Even Stephen Elop Thinks That Microsoft Should Be Broken Up

Now this is absolutely fascinating, for we've one of the contenders for the CEO crown at Microsoft beginning to argue that perhaps the company should be broken up. It's an argument that I've long made, that perhaps Microsoft should be broken up as the best way to produce wealth for the shareholders - but then who am I as a mere scribbler to be determining the fate of mighty corporations? That Elop is thinking along these lines is interesting but the really fascinating thing will be whether he gets that top job after publicly stating so.

Here's the report on his thinking:

Besides emphasizing Office, Elop would be prepared to sell or shut down major businesses to sharpen the company’s focus, the people said. He would consider ending Microsoft’s costly effort to take on Google with its Bing search engine, and would also consider selling healthy businesses such as the Xbox game console if he determined they weren’t critical to the company’s strategy, the people said.

This follows on from Paul Allen's investment manager saying much the same thing last week.

Microsoft’s next chief executive should consider spinning off consumer businesses including search advertising and the Xbox games console, according to the private investment vehicle of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Mr Allen, who started the company with Bill Gates in 1975 and still holds a $2bn stake, is “intrigued and interested” by forthcoming changes, said Paul Ghaffari, who manages the tech investor’s $15bn fortune.

There's nothing very unusual about contenders for top jobs like this laying out their strategic thoughts as they jostle to get that top job. We saw much the same happening before Marissa Mayer's appointment at Yahoo , the argument there being about whether to pivot towards being a media player or not, the yes being Mayer's view and the one that prevailed.

Elop is laying out his strategic plan in public and it will be fascinating to see whether he thus does get the job. For the idea is directly counter to the strategy put in place by Steve Ballmer, the CEO he aims to replace. It's also at odds with what we know of Bill Gates' vision for the company and Gates is still the Chairman and heavily involved in the search for the next CEO.

Still, we'll find out soon enough whether Elop's strategy for Microsoft gets the nod: we can pretty much assume that if he gets the job then the board endorses the strategy.