Satya Nadella is a business ninja that doesn't get nearly enough credit for transforming Microsoft from a bleeding consumer software company into a gaming, cloud computing, and enterprise solutions juggernaut worth over $2.2 trillion.
I started thinking about this early this morning when I saw Microsoft was acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. That's a ridiculously staggering number and deserves to be marveled at on its own, but it's also a staggering confirmation of how much Microsoft truly has changed in the last ten years.
How could the company whose biggest innovation of the 2000s was an anthropomorphic paper clip end up becoming the most powerful force in the gaming industry? How could a company so illiterate in software quality control that Windows Vista and Windows 8 were allowed out the door so effortlessly cement their place atop the enterprise software market with Teams and Office 365? How could a company so inept at even copying other people's ideas (looking at you, Zune) end up creating a realistic rival to AWS in Azure?
If it isn't obvious, almost nothing about Microsoft's output during the Steve Ballmer era impresses me. It felt like they simply took great products that other companies were successful with, built a second-rate version in-house, sucked out every ounce of sex appeal, and forced these knock-offs into the marketplace. Nothing about Microsoft seemed innovative at all. The 2012 Surface launch was the first product where I actually thought their idea was unique and clever even if the execution left some to be desired. But it wasn't until the Surface Studio launch in 2016 that I actually bit my tongue and admitted they had made a great product. It was elegantly designed. The hinges worked so smoothly and silently. The ginormous screen felt so responsive and playful to work on. I really thought they had knocked an idea out of the park for once even if I wasn't ready to completely pardon all their sins yet.
And ever since then, even if I've held onto this deep-rooted ambivalence toward everything the company does, they've silently turned themselves into stone-cold killers in all the spaces they compete in. Xbox is not only a stellar console, but Xbox Game Pass is becoming a virtual no-brainer for gaming junkies (and even more so once you consider this Activision Blizzard acquisition). Having Azure, Microsoft Teams, and Office 365 all under one roof means Microsoft can truly offer B2B customers an end-to-end workplace solution that once again feels like a no-brainer for companies looking for a vendor to manage their digital pivot. In many ways, Microsoft has become a sort of "B2B Apple," offering businesses an entire ecosystem of services that work seamlessly together and can be bundled together for cross-promotion. And while I don't think there's anything about the Surface devices today that make them especially unique, it's certainly a very competitive and dare I say attractive line of devices that seems to be gaining credibility every year.
And to top it off, somehow Satya Nadella has kept Microsoft off the radar of antitrust regulators, who have set their sights on Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple for the time being even though Microsoft is more valuable than three of those companies.
It's one thing that Microsoft was able to do a 180 on its business model so that its core business units today are leagues different than its core business units 15 years ago. But I think it's even more impressive that Microsoft was able to execute this pivot with a quality control standard high enough that they were able to make a seismic dent in each of the spaces they moved into, something that could not be said during the Ballmer era.
You've snuck under the radar, Satya Nadella, but you're a certified ninja for leading Microsoft through this metamorphosis, and I admire what you're doing.
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