Microsoft’s next potential CEO Stephen Elop could kill Bing, sell Xbox

Washington – As Microsoft is looking for a potential successor to outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer, one of the candidates for the coveted position; Nokia’s chief Stephen Elop is reportedly considering big plans for the software giant, which could include ending the Bing segment and selling Xbox business.

Elop served briefly at Microsoft as its head of business division, responsible for Office and other products, and is speculated to be considering the end of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, while contemplating selling the Xbox business.

According to The Verge, some investors and analysts have previously called for Microsoft to split off its Xbox business and give up on search.

The software giant’s co-founder Paul Allen appears to feel the same way as his asset manager, Paul Ghaffari pointed out that Bing and Xbox have been distractions for Microsoft which the company should get rid of and focus on cloud.

The report said that Elop is considering a strategy shift away from Microsoft’s tradition of Office running primarily on Windows PCs and involve focus on maximizing the sales on other platforms.

Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund revealed that Microsoft’s financial earnings could be boosted by 40 percent in fiscal 2015 if the company sold its Bing and Xbox businesses.

The company is heading towards launching its latest Xbox One console in the coming weeks and Bing powers a number of Xbox search and app features, the report added.