Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months
Since Ballmer, who started his career in Microsoft as business manager in 1980, became CEO 2000. Since then he has increased revenue & profit, but has failed to see emerging technologies, let alone profit from it.
Known as Teflon Ballmer, he had to reorganize Microsoft just last month. Probably that was not enough - he had to go.
In last few years, he spent billions with no returns:
1) aQuantive - $6.3bn, on online ads publishing house
2) Skype - $8.5bn on a loss-making VoIP biz
3) Surface RT - $1bn on unsold tablets
He messed with Windows too, twice:
1) Disaster of Longhorn, Vista
2) Touch friendly Windows 8 desktop !
Being from business background, he hardly talked about technical details. When quizzed, his answers were, "nobody’s sleeping at this point" (on iPhone success), "Microsoft will answer as soon as they are ready" (update on Windows Phone).
BTW, as soon as Ballmer announced his decision, Microsoft stock rose by 9%. Ballamer holds so much MSFT stocks that he instantly made $1 billion for this rise -
Ballmer Quits, Instantly Makes (Almost) $1 Billion
PS: Apart from his famous "Developers, developers, developers, developers.", quote, enjoy some of his other quotes:
1) Failed to see impact of iPhone in 2008
"$500, fully subsidized, with a plan! That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine."
2) Failed to see the importance open source software in 2001
"Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. That's the way that the license works."
3) iPod as seen by Ballmer.
"The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
4) On Google's employ friendly policy of letting employee 20% free time to do their own thing.
"I don't really know that anybody's proven that a random collection of people doing their own thing actually creates value."
(Ballmer is big fan of "arrive early/leave late" policy)
5) On DRM, (obviously people don't like DRM)
"DRM is the future", "puts food on the table"
6) Predicted slowdown of Apple laptop sales in 2009
"Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction."
7) Restricts use of non-Microsoft products at home (imagine his kids have to use bing for homework)
"I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."
8) When he found one of his employees is joining Google.
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