MicrosoftFormer executive Ben Slivka said that Microsoft and Office should be spun out to increase their cloud computing efforts.

Slivka said that “the right thing is probably to bet on the future cloud,” he told CNBC during an interview. He was previously the general manager for Microsoft’s consumer-commerce group.

Microsoft Azure’s cloud infrastructure is used to power apps by organizations. It has quickly become a major star within Microsoft. AmazonWeb Services. Investors are now backing the Azure unit, decades after the Microsoft company was a leader in operating systems and productivity applications. Microsoft stock gained 51% in 2021, compared with about 27% for the S&P 500 index.

Slivka said that he no longer owns Microsoft stock and would not allow internal conflict to stop Azure from developing further. Slivka cited Microsoft’s past in mobile device building, which the company has not been able to match. AppleAnd GoogleAs smartphones became mainstream.

He said that Windows executives had put mobile OS employees in a box, and restricted their abilities. The Start button was all they had, along with the bull —-.. Microsoft relaunched its mobile strategy 3 times. Finally, developers and cell phone manufacturers gave up.

Microsoft in 2015 wrote downIn assets of $7.6B related to Nokia’s $9.5 billion acquisition of Nokia services and devices. In 2019, the company discontinued support of Windows 10 Mobile after losing its market share. slipped below 1%.

Microsoft was willing to let go of a small portion of its business over the years. Bing’s mapping assets were sold by the company. Uber2015 2015. for $350 millionIt was spun out of Vexcel imagery company.

After joining Microsoft in 1985, Slivka founded the Internet Explorer group and left Microsoft in 1999. He wrote, “I know how critical Windows is for Microsoft.” a 1997 emailBill Gates is a Microsoft co-founder, and former CEO. This exhibit was used by the government in an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.

He stated that the company “is not dying tomorrow” so it doesn’t have to form a deal immediately.

Windows and Office are still leaders in their respective markets, which helps to attract Azure customers. Technology industry analyst, Jeremy Smith has released its most recent annual market report. GartnerLarge companies choose Azure because they have built up trust over many years.

Azure’s future looks very bright due to the goodwill that Microsoft has created over time.” Wells FargoIn an interview, Michael Turrin, analyst, said. In an interview, Michael Turrin stated that Office was part of my productivity moat. Keeping those two things in sync also gives me a lot power.

He also stated that investors want to be able invest in more efficient public cloud companies. Wall Street and many in tech have a similar experience. speculatedAmazon has not yet spun out AWS. repeatedlyThe company stated it doesn’t have plans to do this.

Turrin predicted that Azure will surpass AWS’ market share by 2028, in November notes initiating coverage on Microsoft. This equates to a buy rating. Turrin gave the whole company a value of $3 trillion at the end 2023. According to Turrin, Azure would have a market value of $1.5 trillion. He also stated that Azure, just like AWS is, profitable.

Wells Fargo revealed that it plans to use Azure. Google’sIn September, cloud. Judson Alhoff, Microsoft’s chief Commercial Officer, is quoted in an article titled “Cloud”, September. statementSoftware maker says it has a “longstanding relationship” to Wells Fargo, a 169-year-old bank.

Microsoft’s future position would suffer if they were to give up Office and Windows. The third quarter saw more than one-third the revenue of the company come from Office products, cloud services, and Windows.

They are highly profitable too. UBS’ November estimates showed that Microsoft will account for around 17% gross margin, if only 12% of Microsoft’s revenue comes from Windows. Microsoft has been expanding the gross margins of Azure for many years. Analysts don’t think it’s close to Windows-levels yet.

Microsoft refused to comment.

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