Xbox COO Helen Chiang exits after three months as report says Netflix walked from $500 million adaptation deal

Helen Chiang, the first chief operating officer of MSFT's Xbox division, left the company on October 23, about three months after she was promoted to the newly created role in July. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told staff in an internal memo that Chiang "is leaving Microsoft today" and that the company would "share more on COO leadership as plans are finalized", so no successor has been named. Chiang spent 21 years at Microsoft and previously ran Minecraft. Microsoft has not given a reason, and some outlets report the exit was involuntary, which Microsoft has not confirmed.

In a separate report, Puck's Matthew Belloni wrote, citing unnamed sources, that NFLX offered Xbox $500 million for exclusive rights to adapt Xbox franchises into films and TV shows over seven years, and that Netflix withdrew after Xbox countered at $800 million. The deal concerned screen adaptations, not games on Netflix or content for Game Pass. Microsoft declined to comment on specific bids, said it had received "record-breaking interest" in its intellectual property, and called Netflix a valued partner.

The two stories landed in the same week but are not connected in any reporting: Sharma and Xbox business affairs are named as the Netflix negotiators, and none of the coverage of Chiang's exit mentions the deal. Together they add to a period of upheaval at Xbox, which restructured in July and has cut roughly 3,200 roles across fiscal 2027, with further layoffs rumored.

What to watch: who takes over the COO responsibilities, which spanned content, hardware, platform and services, and whether Xbox signs the smaller adaptation deals with multiple partners that it is now reportedly pursuing.