My take on that is that the upper-ups obviously heard him when he presented his sell-down plan when he was manouvring for the CEO title. He didn't get the CEO title, but that doesn't mean they didn't agree on some points, and there may be will to sell out the gaming parts that frankly isn't core Microsoft business, even if it's profitable.

What's Elops business strategy, what is he good at? Convincing head honchos. Selling off large companies/divisions to other large companies. Not quite as good at building them. So, I don't think they would've promoted him to that specific role unless they want him to fascilitate a sale.

Either way, they have to deal with his ideas one way or the other because he leaked a platform memo published his plan as CEO. They have either told him to find a good deal to sell out, or told him NOT to sell it, just run it.