“I don’t do emails anymore because I get anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 a day,” Kevin O’Leary said.
A widespread Microsoft outage on Thursday left thousands of users struggling to access their emails, disrupting workplaces and government operations around the world, according to Business Insider. The disruption affected Outlook, Teams, Copilot, and other Microsoft 365 services.
In updates on X, Microsoft said that overloaded infrastructure and unresponsive servers were contributing to the disruptions, which continued into Friday.
“We regret that today’s outages caused disruptions for our customers, and we are working to address the issue,” Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna said in a Thursday post on X.
“We will continue to share more information as soon as we have it, and for now I can confirm that there is no indication this is the result of malicious or cyber activity,” Lamanna added.
While some employees celebrated the outage and jokingly suggested their bosses give them Friday off, and others called on Microsoft to resolve the issue so they can get back to work, going without email is already a standard practice for several prominent business leaders.
O’Leary, a “Shark Tank” investor, stated in a December interview that he gave up on email due to the sheer volume of messages. He said that he tried different filtering systems but could not escape the constant stream, and that people who need to reach him now use messaging apps.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky expressed a similar view, calling email one of the most inferior forms of communication.
“I don’t know if I write an email a week,” Chesky said in a September interview with Time, adding that he responds to emails daily but rarely initiates them.
“I just find it inferior to almost every other form of communication,” Chesky said, explaining that he prefers texts, calls, and in-person conversations because texts feel more personal and faster.
Billionaire cofounder John Paul DeJoria takes the approach even further. “I don’t even own a computer,” DeJoria said in a June interview.
The 82-year-old entrepreneur does not have an email address, instead using his assistant’s computer when necessary and preferring calls or handwritten letters.
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck also favors direct communication for managing his restaurant empire. “I don’t enjoy emails very much. I like talking to people directly. I think you understand people better that way,” Puck said earlier this year.
Canva CEO Melanie Perkins limits her use of email to protect her personal time rather than avoiding it entirely. “I don’t have email or Slack on my phone,” Perkins said on a podcast last year. “When I shut my laptop, I actually tune out.” She remains reachable through emergency calls or pages during downtime.
