According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the corporate really had an opportunity to purchase Minecraft earlier than 2014 however didn’t find yourself taking it.
In 2014, Microsoft purchased Minecraft and its developer, Mojang, for $2.5 billion, however info shared in Satya Nadella’s new e book Hit Refresh, shed extra mild on what really went on behind the scenes properly earlier than the deal was made.
The first proposal was made earlier than Nadella was a CEO, and it was Xbox boss Phil Spencer who made it. Spencer introduced the concept to his boss on the time – who is just not named within the e book – who finally determined towards the concept.
This was “early in Microsoft’s relationship with Mojang”, so it’s in all probability protected to imagine that Spencer’s boss was Don Mattrick, who was accountable for Xbox on the time earlier than leaving in 2013 for a CEO position at Zynga.
Phil Spencer would pitch the sale once more to CEO Satya Nadella, and the remainder is historical past. “For some, such a visible, high-level rejection could have been withering, but Phil didn’t give up,” recounts Nadella (through Yahoo Finance).
Though the corporate did safe the deal ultimately, not everybody on Microsoft’s board on the time understood its significance. “Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, who were still on the board when the deal was presented, later laughed and said they had initially scratched their heads, failing to understand the wisdom of the move,” wrote Nadella.
“Now they get it.”
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