Ex-Xbox Boss 'Lives Like A Saudi Prince'

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If you were feeling sorry for Don Mattrick after the announcement he was leaving Microsoft, something tells me he is going to be just fine. :eek:

His home is the largest in British Columbia, Canada and it's worth $27 million. It has a 10-car garage, and it's filled. When Laporte asked Mattrick how many cars he owned, he just smiled. She said, "A dozen?" He responded, "Ish." As in, he has a dozen-ish cars. The cars he owns include Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Lotuses.
 
Yeah, you figure the guy is loaded to be taking a chance going to a company in big trouble. He may have been seeing signs on the wall about the reorg at Microsoft and figured he wasn't in Microsoft's future as he started talking to Zynga months ago apparently.
 
I kinda like the Xbox One, but this guy kinda came off as a dick when answering questions about the console. I suspect Microsoft wanted to get rid of him, so good thing Zynga wanted him. And I have a feeling he'll fit in well with Zynga.

No chance of me feeling sorry for this guy.
 
He may be rich but, he's still a bitch. So much so that he was shitcanned for it.
 
Largest home in BC is only 27mil? Guess they live pretty modest lives up there eh?
 
Arrogance, hubris, and ego have their benefits, but also their price. He's clearly willing to pay it, but the move to Zynga shows that he wasn't willing to be publicly sacked and instead headed all of that off at the pass by going to Zynga which suffers from a serious cultural personality disorder. And they need to shed their ponzi scheme f2p perceptions too.
 
...he started talking to Zynga months ago apparently.

exactly. i dont know why people think the xbox thing made him leave for zygna. CEOs don't get hired like burger flippers on a month's notice. there must have been talks months ahead and microsoft must have known for a while. maybe that's why he was an asshole in e3 and press interviews: because he already knew he was going to leave.
 
He may be rich but, he's still a bitch. So much so that he was shitcanned for it.

The rumor is that Mattrick stuck to his guns on the Xbox One and once MS back tracked, he decided it was time to go. So (according to the rumor mill) he stood behind his vision for the Xbox One and left when it was gutted. Zynga jumped at the chance to get him and that's why MS didn't have anyone ready to fill the position because they didn't think he would walk.

...but that's just what I heard from a friend of a friend that knew a girl that dated a guy on the Xbox One janitorial team. :D
 
Typical sociopathic CEO, and I dont mean that in a bad way. It has been demonstrated that the most successful people often display a degree of sociopathy, hence their ability to be strong leaders and make difficult decisions regarding peoples lives; because quite frankly, they dont care about people or their lives. If they had a red button their desk that kills somebody every time when pushed, but nets the company an extra 1% in profit, they would push it all day.
 
If they had a red button their desk that kills somebody every time when pushed, but nets the company an extra 1% in profit, they would push it all day.

I would push it all day even without profit.

(I probably wasn't supposed to say that was I... :rolleyes:)
 
Typical sociopathic CEO, and I dont mean that in a bad way. It has been demonstrated that the most successful people often display a degree of sociopathy, hence their ability to be strong leaders and make difficult decisions regarding peoples lives; because quite frankly, they dont care about people or their lives. If they had a red button their desk that kills somebody every time when pushed, but nets the company an extra 1% in profit, they would push it all day.

I wasn't aware he was a CEO. Stereotyping works on all types of people but doesnt mean its absolute.
 
If i were ms i would of done everything to keep his good graces, look whag he did when he got the 360? But oh well, hopefully he turns zynga around.
 
Typical sociopathic CEO, and I dont mean that in a bad way. It has been demonstrated that the most successful people often display a degree of sociopathy, hence their ability to be strong leaders and make difficult decisions regarding peoples lives; because quite frankly, they dont care about people or their lives. If they had a red button their desk that kills somebody every time when pushed, but nets the company an extra 1% in profit, they would push it all day.

Yeah, I don't feel sorry for the guy. Why would I? I don't feel sorry for abandoned puppies when they come on tv asking for money (ohhh booo wooo sarah) either. Why because I don't know them nor do I want to. The button reminds me of that stupid movie where if you push it someone will die but you get a million dollars or something. That movie would have less than a minute long if I was starring in it... I tell you what.
 
There are tons of people like this. Upper-level executives that just job hop because someone else is willing to pay them tens of thousands more. This is why the lower-level employees can't have nice things, because your employer is too busy playing musical chairs with people that they're paying millions of dollars to hang out for a little while.
 
Its funny that these upper level executives can hop all over the place, yet a lower level say engineer who simply knows how to build it often has to sign a non-compete clause so if he wants out and to get a new job using the skill set he has he's shit out of luck until the terms of the NCC expire.
 
Its funny that these upper level executives can hop all over the place, yet a lower level say engineer who simply knows how to build it often has to sign a non-compete clause so if he wants out and to get a new job using the skill set he has he's shit out of luck until the terms of the NCC expire.

My experience of leaving large coroporations under such terms is usually useless.

You try calling up the HR dept a week or so after you left to ask for a reference or to check something and they will have forgotten all about you.

Once you walk out through the door they really dont care unless you are one of a very select few.
 
Zynga is about nickel and diming and monetizing customers to death. The fact they jumped on him as CEO may be a strong indicator what elements of xbox one he was behind.
 
Micheal Pachter predicted he would leave MS shortly after the release of the One, although he guessed he would go to EA not Zynga so he only get partial credit for that prediction.
 
"He made millions when he was at EA, and his wife is a Canadian telecom heiress. "
 
He just wants to be known as the savior of a dying company. If it doesn't work he'll just move on to the next one while the failed one is swept under the rug.
 
Why would anyone feel sorry for him. Even if he's out of job today, he'd still have enough money for the rest of his life.
 
Why would anyone feel sorry for him. Even if he's out of job today, he'd still have enough money for the rest of his life.

Thats kind of the problem with a lot of these critical positions. Often the people in them are already set for life with golden win or lose contracts and stock options.

Whats the risk? You may as well just play around for a few years, be an executive playboy and take the $5 million at the end of it after you've destroyed a whole division and put hundreds out of work.

They have nothing to lose so can and will make decisions that possibly a more cautious or considered person wouldn't.

I think the problem with MS is that its got just too spread out and some project heads have just been given too much slack and have basically gone native. Coming up with their own designs and strategies that are opposed to those existing ones.

"I'm in charge and so it's going to be my vision and no one else's! This will be MY legacy!"

Take Windows 8 and Windows 7, MS was all ears from customers for Windows 7 and delivered a product that most people liked and felt at home with.

With 8 they let Sinofsky build an OS around usage stats and next to nothing else and we got 8. Whilst imo it's not awful it's not the product I would have delivered.

With the 360, MS went and spoke to Developers and gamers and once again delivered a system that most people were happy with. This time they just bunkered up and delivered a system that no one really seems that happy with.
 
Tough gig, so is there a university for a BS degree in BS and spin doctoring, it obviously pays well?
 
"He made millions when he was at EA, and his wife is a Canadian telecom heiress. "

People seem to ignore that.

In any case, 2,000 high ranking male members of the House of Saud exist in a level of decadence that boggles the mind. Average net worth of these guys is about $1 billion. Can you even imagine a family so big you don't know most of them, and all the ones you meet are billionaires?
 
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