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The story
Reports have emerged that a private equity firm is considering acquiring Microsoft’s Xbox business in a deal worth around $100 billion (roughly ¥15 trillion). On 5ch’s “Hardware/Industry (Geha)” board, skeptical voices piled up questioning whether Xbox alone is really worth that much, sparking debate over whether the valuation includes subsidiary studios like Activision Blizzard and how the breakdown would work. Replies explaining LBOs — a debt-financed acquisition method — for how the buyout funds might be raised also gained traction, while opinions were split on whether Microsoft would actually be willing to let Xbox go.
What people said
Are they selling it to China or Samsung or something? Or the Middle East lol
It's not worth that much
Even with AB (Activision Blizzard) thrown in it'd be more like $20 billion
Sounds about right, there's no way it's worth $100 billion anymore
You can't expect that kind of price tag for a PlayStation business that's drowning in debt
You console-war trolls (gehakasu) only know the physical box, but the Xbox brand itself is deeply tied to Windows and can't be split off
They're not tied together at all (´・ω・`)< It's in the way, cut it loose already
Activision at $90 billion, Bethesda at $5 billion, and the rest maybe $5 billion or so?
They're not short on cash, and if they pulled out of the gaming hardware business, getting back in would be nearly impossible
No company is ever truly 'not short on cash'
They have to keep ROI up, and money is always finite
Investors are probably all thinking that ¥10 trillion spent on gaming should've gone into AI instead
You're an idiot — how do you 'consider' buying something when you don't even have the money to buy it
It's basically like saying 'If I wanted to buy the Xbox business it'd cost ¥15-23 trillion, so does anyone want to lend me the money?'
They haven't actually secured the ¥15 trillion for the buyout yet
Didn't they just raise ¥9 trillion for the EA buyout recently?
EA could use an LBO because it was publicly traded
They issue bonds secured against EA itself — bonds that pay out at high interest if the buyout succeeds, and become worthless paper if it fails
Investors betting that 'the buyout will succeed,' drawn in by the high interest, buy up those bonds, and that's how the acquisition funds get raised
Once the buyout goes through, they merge with EA, sell off its assets piece by piece to cover the bond repayments
Then they run the company going forward with just whatever promising, high-margin divisions are left
It only had any appeal because it was Microsoft's Xbox
Under any other company it'd matter even less
VAIO's actually been doing great since it spun off from Sony though
It's profitable, so the shareholders won't allow it
AI investment is so massive it's actually finite
If they really had infinite money they'd have already won the AI race — as always
Also, the Xbox division reportedly has layoffs planned for November and January
Between the leaner org and the pushback against going full-Windows, maybe that makes it easier to sell off?
Just going by the description, a Windows-powered Helix handheld sounds like it'd have more demand than the Steam Deck
The MS Surface line is well made
If MS sells off Xbox, how would that work? Would they get any say over conditions imposed on the buyer?
That Minecraft rumor is only ever repeated by gaming-board posters — there's no actual source for it anywhere
The brand isn't strong enough for them to jack up the price and flip it to someone else either
It's not like the investment firm would actually run it themselves
Well, friction between the games division and the Windows division is practically a tradition
That's how the Dreamcast ended up happening, after all
Report: Xbox's next-gen console will reportedly launch in 2028 priced at $1,800 (about ¥260,000)
https://x.com/IGN/status/2112625314056606158
That's only if they're not selling the hardware at a loss (gyaku-zaya)
Isn't it the Xbox division that's against putting Windows on it, since they'd rather collect the licensing royalties?
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
This report is still only at the stage of “a private equity firm is reportedly considering an acquisition” — it doesn’t mean a deal has been struck or even that negotiations are underway. As posters in the thread point out, when a PE fund takes on a buyout of this scale ($100 billion), it typically relies on an LBO (leveraged buyout) — borrowed money rather than cash on hand — and a recent real-world precedent is the roughly ¥9 trillion raised for the EA acquisition. Most commenters are skeptical that the Xbox brand alone is worth that much, and opinions diverge over whether the valuation includes subsidiary studios (such as Activision Blizzard). The thread also touches on internal friction — reportedly over a push to use a dedicated OS for the Helix handheld instead of Windows, clashing with the Windows division, plus layoffs planned for November and January — cited as background for why sale rumors have surfaced. Worth noting too: Microsoft isn’t short on cash; this is being framed more as a reallocation of resources toward AI investment.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “[Bad News] Investment Firm Considering Buying Xbox for $100 Billion lmaoooooo.”
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