Yeah, but somebody in that chain up the line still cares about the reputation and has to weigh that against more local goals.

Reminds me of that Better Call Saul episode where Jimmy makes a lavish TV ad to find members for a class action lawsuit, and finds a ton more people, but does it without getting the law firm's partners' approval, and they are angry with him because they care more about the law firm's reputation than the ROI for a particular case.

Edit: With that said, I'm not convinced this is the kind of the king that would actually hurt MS's reputation outside of geek circles.