Microsoft CFO Amy Hood warned employees not to 'build a gold toilet'

Microsoft's concern main advised employees not to "build a golden toilet" during a 2018 meeting, according to emails that came up during national tribunal hearings past period implicit the bundle maker's planned Activision Blizzard acquisition.

The quip mightiness invoke a 2016 societal media assertion (proven mendacious by Snopes) that erstwhile President Donald Trump owned a coagulated golden toilet. Rapper MC Hammer reportedly did, too. Whatever inspired it, the notation seems to item the imaginable for richly valued exertion companies to physique products conscionable due to the fact that they can, ignoring the likelihood that they won't resonate with galore customers.

"Amy's words from the gathering successful the Fall inactive ringing successful my ears - 'don't physique a golden toilet,'" Vice President Catherine Gluckstein wrote successful a February 2019 email to Phil Spencer, CEO of gaming astatine Microsoft. Gluckstein works connected advertizing and the cloud-based crippled streaming work formerly known arsenic xCloud.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to elaborate connected Hood's remarks.

Immediately earlier the toilet comment, Gluckstein mentioned Microsoft's plans to trial xCloud with consumers. She noted that she was unclear connected what Microsoft was trying to find with the tests and wherever the diagnostic would acceptable successful with Xbox's go-to-market strategy.

"I've made that mistake connected excessively galore products, and I'm definite everyone other has too, erstwhile we've built features earlier we answered the halfway questions," Gluckstein wrote.

Spencer wrote successful reply that mobile gamers don't needfully privation to play a hardcore crippled specified arsenic Halo connected their phones portion utilizing an Xbox controller implicit Bluetooth.

"This is gathering the golden spot (for our existing TAM)," Spencer wrote. "It doesn't assistance america grow."

Perhaps Microsoft ought to halt what it was doing and commencement picking up intelligence spot and releasing mobile games, oregon it could get a mobile crippled steadfast specified arsenic Nexon, Spencer added.

When Gluckstein responded, she wondered astir lesser forms of in-house improvement that Microsoft could explore.

"What struck maine is are we trying to tally 1 cleanable experimentation erstwhile possibly we should beryllium moving aggregate 'ceramic toilet' experiments (smaller scope, much scrappy)," Gluckstein wrote. "Would this beryllium a amended mode to determination connected from 'guessing.' Are we pushing ourselves to larn the lawsuit WHY accelerated enough?"

Microsoft moved forward with xCloud beta investigating successful precocious 2019. But implicit 5 days of tribunal hearings successful June, Microsoft executives testified that xCloud, present known arsenic Xbox Cloud Gaming, has failed to go a viable alternate to PCs oregon Microsoft's Xbox consoles, wherever games tin tally locally. Earlier this twelvemonth Google unopen down Stadia, its instrumentality connected crippled streaming.

Microsoft hasn't fixed up connected unreality gaming. But it's besides chosen to turn done dealmaking. Last twelvemonth the institution announced its intent to bargain Activision Blizzard, which makes mobile deed Candy Crush Saga, for $68.7 billion. A national justice volition determine if Microsoft tin adjacent the transaction, contempt objections from the Federal Trade Commission. British regulators person also tried to artifact it.

Read the emails from Spencer and Gluckstein regarding Hood's "gold toilet" comments below.