With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard finally closed after over a year of being in the news, Microsoft (MSFT) -) must be feeling pretty good about its future right now — not to mention its new status in the gaming industry.
But like most major companies, Microsoft has made its share of devastating mistakes as well — and its CEOs, both past and present, are typically pretty open about them.
Related: Report: Here's how much Microsoft employees make according to a leak
CEO Satya Nadella recently admitted in an interview that one of his biggest business regrets was exiting the mobile phone business a year after taking on his role with the company by writing off $7.6 billion of Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia.
More Technology:
- The company behind ChatGPT is now facing a massive lawsuit
- Prominent EV company says latest deal will be the first of many
- Apple makes a big new move with Elon Musk's Twitter
"In retrospect, I think there could have been ways we could have made it work by perhaps reinventing the category of computing between PCs, tablets, and phones," he told Insider.
Nadella also expounded on his own personal mistakes as a leader, sharing one fascinating lesson learned from his many years as a leader.
"I wish I could say there was one mistake, but I've made many, many mistakes. I would say that my biggest mistakes were probably all about people," he said.
The timing of Nadella's comments, only a few days before the company's Q1 earnings call, could be interpreted as Nadella's way of saying that things could be very different today had he made a different choice.
But with the company's recent moves going all-in on AI, as well as the boost from the Activision Blizzard acquisition, it seems as if Microsoft is doing just fine even without a mobile line of business.
Get exclusive access to portfolio managers and their proven investing strategies with Real Money Pro. Get started now.
