MSFTs Future

Stephen Elop, one of the candidates in the running to be MSFTs next CEO, is said to be considering selling the company's Bing search business and Xbox video game business if he gets the job.

MSFTs attempt to take on Google in search was risky at first, and it hasn't made much headwind.

Bing only has 17 percent of the search engine market share in the U.S., compared to Google's 67 percent, according to the latest ComScore numbers. Microsoft also loses a lot of money from its online services division, which includes Bing. Since 2005, the division has lost about $11 billion. One could argue Microsoft is just throwing money down a rat hole with its Bing business. Wall Street has been howling for Microsoft to dump bing for some time now.

Spinning off the Xbox business makes less sense. As Microsoft repositions itself as a devices and services company, it likes to tout its popular video game console business as an example of how it can make great hardware people love to use. Despite its financials, Microsoft's Xbox business is one of the company's strongest, most beloved brands and proof that it can make hardware integrated with services people want.