'Gates gave him cover, so must have eventually caved'

[Olympian]

Hello,

The following is from the Yahoo news Microsoft's Windows head, once a possible CEO, exits

He (Sinofsky) wielded immense power as head of the Windows unit, the traditional center of Microsoft's business, but was not known for working well with other executives.
One former Microsoft staffer who worked with Sinofsky and other executives said his relentlessly aggressive style exasperated other leaders and may have alienated too many people, including his mentor Gates."He had no one left to fight for him," said the staffer, who asked not to be named. "Gates gave him cover, so he must have eventually caved."

I am trying to understand the meaning of the last sentence (in red above). Does it mean that Gates supported Sinofsky, but later was/got exasperated by him and stopped supporting him or withdrew his support and hence Sinofsky must have eventually caved (gave up) and resigned?

[definition of caved is - give up all opposition, yield.]

The 'so' part is confusing to me. If Gates gave him cover (supported him), then why would Sinofsky give up? If it had said 'Gates used to give him cover' (implying that he does not anymore), then I can understand the 'so he must have eventually caved' part.

Thank you

[SoothingDave]

There are too many "he's" in that sentence.

Gates gave Sinofsky cover, but eventually Gates caved.

[Olympian]

@SoothingDave, thank you. I see. Then the 'so' part is a bit confusing. As you wrote 'but eventually Gates caved', if the news story had 'but' instead of 'so', it would have made sense to me. Thank you.