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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

• dabeeeenster 13y ago
  "retire"
  • kaonashi 13y ago
    It sounds better than "spending time with family" I suppose. He is almost 60.
• rdl 13y ago
  Wow, this is going to be the best thing for MSFT stock (and probably the company) in the past 10 years. I'm excited about having a real force to counterbalance Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon again. This, and the other company response to it, might be good for +0.05% GDP growth or something crazy like that.
  • ljoshua 13y ago
    Already up about $2.70 (8%) in pre-market trading. Looking to be very good.
    • CurtHagenlocher 13y ago
      What a fabulous present to all of us employees whose stock vests on 8/31!
  • nakedrobot2 13y ago
    > I'm excited about having a real force to counterbalance > Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon again. Are these 4 independent corporations somehow conspiring to restrict your choices in some way? :)
    • rdl 13y ago
      5 > 4. And really they're not all players in everything Microsoft does (Google is closest); FB isn't going to touch a phone again, and doesn't do a desktop OS, etc. Azure/AWS/GCE would be better than today (where we really just have AWS). Android/iOS/WP would be nice. etc.
• anuragramdasan 13y ago
  From Vista to Surface RT, was it? I am just glad. A much needed change for Microsoft.
  • rdl 13y ago
    The recent "strategy memo" really should have been the last straw, where "creating shareholder value" was their mission.
    • anuragramdasan 13y ago
      Indeed. His reign over the past 10 years not only resulted in not much progress for microsoft but also hampered its reputation. Would be really interesting to see how the new management takes over and brings about some real changes.
• gexla 13y ago
  You did a great job and you had an amazing career. Time to take some time off to enjoy those other parts of life that you haven't had time for. You deserve it.
• mathattack 13y ago
  Huge news! Let's see what happens to the stock today. It edged up a little at the end of the day, suggesting that perhaps news was getting out. It's up 8% in premarket trading. [1] One interesting thing to note from that chart is their Beta (a measure of link to market volatility) is less than 1, which is very low for a high tech stock. It basically means that the market views them as less volatile to market conditions than an index fund. Or put another way, more like a utility than a high tech firm. What does this mean for Microsoft? I think an awful lot will depend on his replacement. I don't think they can get Gates to do another round. Who has the breadth of skills to manage it all? Seems like a complex enough beast that finding an appropriate outsider would be difficult too. Going to another source [2] I see: “As a member of the succession planning committee, I’ll work closely with the other members of the board to identify a great new CEO,” said Gates. “We’re fortunate to have Steve in his role until the new CEO assumes these duties.” This suggests that he could be gone much sooner if the search goes well. These things don't happen overnight, but it could be by the end of the year or even sooner. [1] http://finance.yahoo.com/q;_ylt=AsQ2vnc2OVs8WNqk.WdDwM.iuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTBwdm1qNzVjBHNlYwNVSCAzIERlc2t0b3AgU2VhcmNoIDI-;_ylg=X3oDMTBucmRhZWhqBGxhbmcDZW4tVVMEcHQDcG1oBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3?uhb=uhb2&fr=yfinanceheader_test2&type=2button&s=msft http://finance.yahoo.com/q;_ylt=AsQ2vnc2OVs8WNqk.WdDwM.iuYdG... [2] http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/23/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-to-retire-in-12-months/ http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/23/microsoft-ceo-stev...
  • deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  • lee 13y ago
    I'm not sure your description of Beta is accurate. Correctly if I'm wrong, but Beta is a measure of volatility in correlation with the broader market, not a measure of volatility in of itself. There are plenty of stocks that have beta < 1 that are much more volatile than the indexes. Having a low beta simply means its price isn't as correlated with the overall market. An example, Netflix has a beta < 1 but is extremely volatile.
    • sz4kerto 13y ago
• tomorgan 13y ago
  Is it too soon to start discussing who is going to replace him? Any thoughts? I'm guessing not Sinofsky...
  • gregd 13y ago
    Bezos
• harel 13y ago
  Maybe Bill will make a Steve Jobs style comeback?
  • xutopia 13y ago
    That's highly unlikely. Bill Gates is busy with his foundation.
    • harel 13y ago
      It was very much a tongue in cheek comment but either way not only its unlikely, Bill can actually do good things with his foundation. Taking Microsoft out of the pit its in would be very difficult
  • frakkingcylons 13y ago
    I think that's pretty unlikely considering his commitment to the Foundation.
    • agumonkey 13y ago
      Not far from saving lives.
• jaxbot 13y ago
  It must really hurt the self-esteem of a CEO when they announce retirement and the stock goes up. That being said, it's about time. Microsoft has had too much misdirection lately and really needs to either pull it together or drop out of some of its markets.
  • img 13y ago
    Given that Ballmer has ~400 million shares of MSFT, I think the billion dollar increase in paper net worth probably softens the blow.
  • wallygold 13y ago
    Maybe. It can't help his self-esteem. On the other hand the stock was trading around that price just a few weeks ago. He must realize how fickle the market is.
• jetpackparakeet 13y ago
  Scott Forstall is available last I heard.
  • sgt 13y ago
    People may scoff at this - but why not? His experience from Apple and NeXT should transcend into an organization like Microsoft. He will be an extremely useful asset, although perhaps a bit dictatorial from what I've heard.
    • jemeshsu 13y ago
      and bring skeuomorphic user interface to Windows 9? That will totally brainfuck the whole UX industry.
      • fieryeagle 13y ago
        That'd be the day that I introduce my fist to the monitor.
• devx 13y ago
  Long, long overdue. He should've been fired (ahem - retired) after the Vista failure, which was his failure. It took Sinofsky to turn things around with Windows 7, and deliver on time. Hopefully this means a lot less "Metro" in Windows 9.
• nvk 13y ago
  tl,dr; Board of Directors, "Buddy time to go, it's not working out."
  • michaelwww 13y ago
    "Steve, we feel you should spend more time with your family"
• benmorris 13y ago
  Finally, it was time for Ballmer to go.
  • k2enemy 13y ago
    Exactly. My reaction, and I imagine everyone's reaction, upon reading the headline was, "finally."
• terhechte 13y ago
  Now the question is, whoever will be next at the helm, will he / she be able to reverse directions and steer Microsoft into more relevant and fruitful territories. Ballmer's Microsoft was always late to the party, overseeing important technology trends and society transformations out of, I'd call it a mix of ignorance and arrogance; maybe they were also too blended by their previous successes. The way he dismissed iPhones, iPads, the way they developed their OS. Or the Zune, or Bing, there has been much criticism over the years. I don't know which moves would have been better (except for seeing the mobile future and the suckyness that was Windows Mobile 6 in time), but Ballmer was always more of a numbers guy I hear, and less of a visionary. I hope their next big guy is going to have more vision. This may be a good day to buy their stock, if you like 50/50 games.
  • ojbyrne 13y ago
    Once upon a time, "late to the party" aka "fast following" was their strategy, and it served them very well.
    • Ensorceled 13y ago
      Agreed. But they've been doing that pretty poorly recently as well, they keep trying to "innovate" instead of bringing their "copied from xxxx but integrated into MS stuff" solution.
  • c2prods 13y ago
    I'm skeptical about Microsoft recovering. They clearly missed the mobile revolution. But let's hope they'll be able to tackle directly the next challenges (wearable computing, etc.)
    • rom16384 13y ago
      They also clearly missed the internet revolution, but managed to recover. Big companies have trouble adapting to new paradigms, but it's not impossible for them to do it, especially when they have so many resources at their disposal.
• bedhead 13y ago
  $24 billion. That's the increase in market value as of 15 minutes before the open. This has to be a record for a CEO announcing he's leaving. I've always wondered how much these types of things bruise the egos of the retiring execs.
  • vidarh 13y ago
    The few hundred million that his own Microsoft shared have appreciated in value ought to at least partially make up for his bruised ego...
• monsterix 13y ago
  Nice. Microsoft does some really awesome research work and can easily come out to position themselves as leading the tech space again. Though some would argue they already do, but that's not correct looking at the growth other companies have demonstrated. MS has had some massive misses, a couple of super bungled opportunities in the past decade only because of the ageing 'bored' (pun intended) that thought marketing is the only thing to drive innovation. I hope they find a replacement that's good and that his/her selection is not too much influenced by the existing board or its psyche.
• lbarrow 13y ago
  He'll be remembered as a terrible CEO. Ballmer took over as CEO in 2000. In the 13 years since then, Apple has experienced an unprecedented resurgence. Google and Facebook have gone from being obscure startups to giants. The tech industry went through the bubble, recovered, and today is stronger than ever. What happened to Microsoft? While the rest of the tech sector exploded and prospered, it stayed still. A MSFT share was worth about $35 dollars when Ballmer took over; it's worth about $35 now. The world moved on, and Microsoft didn't move with it.
  • anuragramdasan 13y ago
    Ballmer has always lacked the ability to see the future. Be it about him calling Zune the iPhone killer, or much prior to that claiming it in the media that no one would ever wan tto buy an iPhone. Also, really below par products.
    • davidw 13y ago
      > Ballmer has always lacked the ability to see the future. Maybe you meant 'envision' the future? Outside of Nostradamus, who, by the way, predicted not only Hacker News, Steve Ballmer's downfall, but also this very thread on the same subject, not many people have the ability to see the future, although some are better than others at imagining how it could be.
      • anuragramdasan 13y ago
        Hah. Okay didn't see that obvious mistake there. I meant 'envision'.
    • the_bear 13y ago
      To be fair, one of the greatest "see the future" CEOs has said similar things. Just off the top of my head, I know that Steve Jobs said that no one would want a larger screen than the original iPhone had, and he said that 7" tablets didn't make any sense. Now Apple has a larger iPhone screen and 7" tablet. That's not to say that Steve Jobs was wrong about the future, but he had to sell devices in the present which meant pretending that they were perfect even though they weren't. Ballmer may have been doing the same. It's likely that his failures occurred much earlier in the process, and then he had to try to sell doomed products which is where those silly statements come from.
• leokun 13y ago
  Microsoft isn't going in the opposite direction that it should be going on. Instead of integrating more, it needs to make more software for Android and iOS. If it weren't tying everything into Windows all the time Office and other Microsoft software would be dominating App Store and Google Play, ensuring its success for the next generation. Instead it's tying everything back into Windows and Windows phone. Those things should stand on their own feet. Microsoft can create great versions of its software for all platforms, but instead it handicaps itself to no great effect. Limiting Office to just its own platform hasn't really made much of an impact.
• smackfu 13y ago
  If you think about it, what does the "within 12 months" part even mean? Like, if the deadline hits, they'll just take whoever they can get?
  • chollida1 13y ago
    > If you think about it, what does the "within 12 months" part even mean? I'm not sure what part about that is confusing. In case you are ESL it means that Ballmer will retire before one year has elapsed. > Like, if the deadline hits, they'll just take whoever they can get? Running one of the largest, profitable and most prestigious companies in the world is a pretty good job. I'm pretty certain that there will be no shortage of qualified people willing to become the CEO:) No one makes an announcement like this without planning ahead, they've already got either a new CEO or a very short list of people who they've already vetted.
    • smackfu 13y ago
      I mean, a much more common way to do this is something like "has informed the company of his intention to retire as soon as a successor is announced." Or "announced he will retire at the end of the year and that the company’s board of directors has approved the promotion of X to CEO." Throwing a deadline in there is just odd.
      • RougeFemme 13y ago
        It may be more common, but I think that if it's stated the first way, it seems less planned and deliberate and it's more likely to rattle the market - or at the very least, send the media off looking for nefarious, non-business-related reasons for the retirement. It's almost as bad as suddenly retiring to "spend more time with the family".
  • uptown 13y ago
    That they see 12 months as a safe timeline for transition (I'm sure the board already has a short-list), but if they place a CEO in that role before then, and the transition is complete, then Steve will leave early.
• deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
• rdl 13y ago
  Since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a huge percentage of its wealth still in MSFT stock, I think Bill Gates can make a case to himself that picking the best possible leader for MSFT will save hundreds of thousands of marginal children. If I were him, there would be two candidates: Qi Lu (insider, obvious choice), or, for the ultimate in turnaround ballerdom: Ben Horowitz (from a16z). Either would be a vast improvement on Ballmer, but Qi Lu would be the "safe" choice, mostly doubling down on trends within Microsoft. Ben Horowitz would put Microsoft solidly at the core of Silicon Valley, plus it would signify that Microsoft views the next 10 years as "wartime" with a CEO to match. (The other low-odds pick would be Bill Gates Round 2, but that seems unlikely just due to where he is in life. I could maybe see it as "Interim CEO". He'd do an awesome job I'm sure.)
  • randall 13y ago
    Would BH leave a16z is the question though. I mean sure, ShoeDazzle, Zynga, Groupon, whatever. They're really doing a lot to mess with SV culture, which could be (long term) more transformative than guiding an ailing giant.
  • lmg643 13y ago
    i wonder if they are going to try and preserve the multi-headed monster that is microsoft today, or whether they are going to break it up into constituent parts. i know that the temptation is great to try and compete head to head with google on the plan to totally annihilate each other, but i wonder if that makes any sense. google docs has been around for six years and i've never encountered it in a corporate setting. so does office need to be tied to bing? (and vice versa). will be interesting to see what they choose to do next.
    • wehadfun 13y ago
      "google docs has been around for six years and i've never encountered it in a corporate setting" Dallas Independent School District uses it.
  • JaakkoP 13y ago
    Never thought of Ben Horowitz until now, but since you mentioned it, I'd really like to see that happen! Chances are that Bill Gates becomes interim CEO and personally recruits the more permanent leader from the outside.
• tomorgan 13y ago
  This story is Developing, Developing, Developing...
  • pdwetz 13y ago
    Or, perhaps: Retirement! Retirement! Retirement! (to the cheers of investors)
• rshlo 13y ago
  I think the main problem with it's leadership is that Microsoft lost it's innovative spirit. I think the main reason for that is that Ballmer is a business and marketing guy, and not a tech guy. All the giants today are led by tech people and that's effect the entire culture of all the company.
  • hollerith 13y ago
    Tim Cook has an MBA and a BS (earned in 1982) in industrial engineering. I was in college in the years leading up to 1982 and I socialized with industrial engineers. It is likely that Cook took only one course that involved programming (excluding programmable calculators). And the descriptions of his jobs ("chief operating officer (COO) of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics", "12 years in IBM's personal computer business as the director of North American Fulfillment") suggest strongly that he did not do any programming once he left school.
• camus 13y ago
  Hmm , so who will be the new boss ? I think it should have been Sinofsky. He delivered W7 which the best Windows ever period ( and i'm a linux fanboy ). W8 was not that great but i dont think he designed that whole Metro fiasco, Metro came from the top. Anyway good luck MSFT.
  • xradionut 13y ago
    Julie Larson Green will probably be chosen to lead the ongoing descent into obscurity and mediocrity.
  • yuhong 13y ago
    http://hal2020.com/2013/07/12/doing-the-successor-speculation-shuffle/ http://hal2020.com/2013/07/12/doing-the-successor-speculatio...
• toblender 13y ago
  I predict Marissa Mayer, will take the mantle.
  • toblender 13y ago
    What? I guess people don't like my prediction. Mad down votes.
    • warmfuzzykitten 13y ago
      I don't understand. Marissa Mayer would be a great choice for this job. I doubt she would take it, because Microsoft is totally invested in the dying PC business and she'd have to put up with whiny old Bill, but, hey, Yahoo didn't look very good until she got there.
      • scholia 13y ago
        Apple bought Next and (accidentally) re-hired Jobs. Microsoft could, finally, buy Yahoo and get Marissa Mayer. But I don't think it's going to happen ;-)
• kenshiro_o 13y ago
  Amen
• awsm 13y ago
  Not that it will happen, but I would like to see what Marissa Mayer could do with MSFT.
  • bryang 13y ago
    THAT would be in interesting...
• DonnyV 13y ago
  Scott Guthrie for CEO!!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Guthrie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Guthrie
  • joshuaellinger 13y ago
    Not likely but that would be funny and awesome.
    • fieryeagle 13y ago
      How about...Raymond Chen?
  • hrvbr 13y ago
    He's more of a CTO. "CEO of Microsoft" is a prestigious title. They could use it as an opportunity to pull a coup. Like offering to merge with Facebook and giving the title to Zuckerberg. It doesn't have to be with FB, any big guy that would bring a missing market to Microsoft's empire would be a coup. But the reasonable thing to do is to hire from inside.
    • seunosewa 13y ago
      Why do you think they should hire from outside?
    • robert-wallis 13y ago
      I always believed leaders should do the main thing the company does. Microsoft's new CEO should write software and make hardware. It's hard for me to respect a manager that doesn't understand what I do.
• wslh 13y ago
  Good news, bad news, who knows? I don't know if current Microsoft issues are in their DNA or not. Personally I was bullish (yes I put my money where my mouth is) of MSFT but I mainly found the following obstacles to be more optimistic: - The relationship with developers was deteriorating: I am a MSDN customer and tried to upgrade but they don't give me any discount in the first year of upgrade while keeping with my same subscription level I have discounts. In our company we also have issues with getting new keys (or using the existing ones) for their software and we need to talk to someone personally to receive them. - Windows 8 / Office are in the middle of a transition but not there: I think having a hybrid mobile/desktop OS is a good idea. But I don't like to use my desktop in the way I use a mobile device (i.e: the famous start button) or the reverse. If they want to go mobile they must implement an Office that can be used with a new UI. - The Microsoft web offerings like Microsoft 365 are slow, difficult to configure, buggy. If they just copy Google/Apple style they would benefit a lot. Disclaimer: I love Visual Studio and C#.
  • gregd 13y ago
    Microsoft's licensing schemes are riddles, wrapped in enigma's and covered with shit. I'm actually surprised that Windows doesn't have In App Purchases. You want to search? It's only 2.99! You want the desktop? It's only .99! I've never encountered the issues you have with MSDN. I believe you only because the team that dreams up their licensing/key schemes, should be forced to use them. The jury is still out on Windows 8. Having left my enterprise setting prior to Windows 8 become widely available (hell I left even before we moved to Windows 7), I wonder how Win8 is to manage in an enterprise setting. Most users that I've encountered, would have had a hell of a time transitioning from the traditional Windows XP/7 desktop, to Metro. My office would have been queued with "Where is the Start menu?"
    • RyJones 13y ago
      Licensing being complex is a feature. It gives Microsoft something easy to wheel and deal on; it also gives OEM salespeople something to hide profit in ("gosh, sorry your enterprise desktops came out $40/seat high, but Microsoft gets all of that" while $35 of that is pure profit for the OEM)
• anuragramdasan 13y ago
  My biggest hope from all of this would be for Microsoft to enhance its current products. They have been trying to get into too many fields while at the same time forgetting to make their main priority products perfect. Considering the rising impact Linux has been having over the past few years, I'd only be glad to see Microsoft try to come up with a superior operating system.
  • baggachipz 13y ago
    > They have been trying to get into too many fields while at the same time forgetting to make their main priority products perfect. And when, pray tell, did they do that?
• davidcollantes 13y ago
  About time. He should have retired earlier. I would not wait twelve months; just pretend he died, and move on.
• rckrd 13y ago
  It will be interesting to see if Microsoft follows a Yahoo like trajectory - and if Apple follows Microsoft's trajectory after a few years of Tim Cook.
  • baggachipz 13y ago
    I would bet on it. This seems to be the cycle of tech companies: Innovate when small, rake in profits for years, lag behind, and slowly die. What has Apple produced under Cook? A couple small improvements to current products, and nothing new or noteworthy. There may be a couple innovations still in their incubator from days past, but in 5-10 years people will be saying the same things about Apple.
• kjhughes 13y ago
  What were the key Ballmer era highlights? == Negatives == * Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html * Developer relations / motivational speaking (thanks mathattack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc * Employee retention (thanks JonnieCache, Ziomislaw): http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going-to-fing-kill-google/2005/09/03/1125302772214.html http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going... * Windows Phone: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/07/18/if-you-havent-seen-a-windows-phone-lately-its-because-theyre-practically-disappearing/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/07/18/if-you-h... * IPTV platform Microsoft Mediaroom (thanks nixy): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/ * Vista (thanks balakk, danieldk) * Internet Explorer neglect and market share declines. == Mixed == * Failed Yahoo acquisition (thanks michaelpinto, seanmcdirmid, throwaway1979): http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2008/may08/05-03letter.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2008/may08/05-03le... == Positives == * Xbox / games division (thanks benihana) * Enterprise successes (thanks gregd, facorreia) * Facebook investment (thanks riffraff) [edits: updates per reply comment suggestions]
  • benihana 13y ago
    Positives: Xbox/Games division
    • Ensorceled 13y ago
      One almost gets the impression that Xbox slipped under Ballmer's radar and didn't get his full attention :-)
      • gmacdon89 13y ago
        I loled. I have thought this as well. something along the lines of he was concentrating on office when a division of microsoft was able to continue working without his interruption.
    • 13y ago
• sz4kerto 13y ago
  I don't think Ballmer was a crap CEO, but because many people think he is, therefore just the fact he leaves is good for the company.
• Delmania 13y ago
  I think Ballmer is an interesting case study in perception versus results. He's commonly portrayed as a poor CEO that has led Microsoft in the direction of irrelevance. And yet, to quote oft critic Gruber, "he knows how to make money" (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/04/19/msft-q3 http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/04/19/msft-q3) I'd love to sit down and talk to him, and see if his vision is a bit more long range than your average industry analyst, similar Paul O'Neill's vision on worker safety and Alcoa in 1987.
  • gregd 13y ago
    I would argue that Gruber is wrong. Microsoft would have made money during it's Ballmer years, regardless of who was at the helm. When Gates left, MS was a Katamari ball rolling down hill, catching all the money in it's path.
    • mikeash 13y ago
      People often point to MS's continued profitability in these discussions, but they're missing the point. The question isn't whether they're profitable today, but whether they're profitable and relevant in ten or twenty years. Profits are a lagging indicator for a once-successful company. A large company with entrenched products can coast for a long time while in decline. For example, RIM basically sank in 2007-2008. They had opportunities to save themselves well after that, but that's when it started, and they passed up those opportunities. However, their decline didn't really show up in their financials until 2012. Microsoft looks to me like they're the same way. Surface and the new Windows Phone are analogous to RIM's late, lame attempts to ship a large-touchscreen Blackberry. Microsoft is profitable for the same reason they've been profitable for the past couple of decades: Windows and Office. However, that's now a declining market. It's still huge, and they can milk it for a long time, but it's on the way out. It looks like they missed their chance to move on to something else in favor of hanging on to their cash cows as they sink.
      • sidcool 13y ago
        Though I agree with you mostly, I argue that Xbox and Kinect have greatly contributed to their profits.
• fsckin 13y ago
  Time to write three letters.
• sriramk 13y ago
  As someone who spent five years working at MSFT under Steve as CEO, my first reaction is sadness. Steve spent over three decades working there, it is an end of an exceptional career, regardless of how his run as CEO might have been.
• bornhuetter 13y ago
  Good news, this really had to happen. One of Microsoft's biggest problems is one of PR - too many people, particularly in the media have just hated Microsoft for years, and Ballmer is not charismatic enough to ever recover from that position. They need new blood, and to shake off the "old Microsoft" image if they want to win hearts and minds again.
  • devx 13y ago
    Marketing and PR can only do so much to improve the image of a company or product. That company or product actually has to have great core values or qualities. Microsoft is forcing OEM's to pay licenses for using open sources operating systems, they're throwing mud against competitors in the media and in social media, and there's still this very real feeling that Microsoft hasn't shaken off the "evil" attitude and culture inside the company. New pretty colors on its OS and hiring better PR people aren't going to help with that. The company need to change from the inside-out, not outside-in.
    • bornhuetter 13y ago
      I really don't think Microsoft's main product offerings are that bad. The biggest issue with Metro and Windows Phone is a lack of developer support - and I think a significant part of that is caused by a lot of the best developers being either Apple or Google "fanboys". Office remains excellent, Windows 8 is excellent at what it intended for - office productivity, games, VS development etc. But the media hates them, OEMs mostly don't seem to care very much about making good hardware for PCs, Windows tablets and windows phones. To me this is at least partly a symptom of their image problem. EDIT: I say this as an open source advocate - I would love it if Linux based systems became more popular, but I recognize the quality of Microsoft's products in terms of what they are intended for.
      • xradionut 13y ago
        Bullshit. Microsoft crapped on it's developers, IT and users when it released Windows 8. How are you supposed to develop for a system when the frameworks change every couple of years? Not to mention pissing off independents, dropping TechNet and raising license costs across the board. Price out a decent MS server solution and 60 to 80 percent of the cost is Microsoft licenses. Azure isn't a solution either since Redmond is Yet Another NSA Bitch.
• sz4kerto 13y ago
  Paul Thurrot's comment: "On a personal note, I'll just add that Ballmer was one of the good guys. Though he was relentlessly mocked for his over-the-top public appearances in years past, Ballmer was also relentlessly pro-Microsoft and it's very clear that the troubles of the past decade were at least in part not of his making: Ballmer inherited a Microsoft that had been driven into an antitrust quagmire by Mr. Gates, handicapping its ability to compete effectively or respond to new trends quickly. While many called for his ouster for many years, I never saw a single leader emerge at Microsoft who could fill his shoes or the needs of this lofty position. Looking at the available options today, I still don't."
  • mathattack 13y ago
    "While many called for his ouster for many years, I never saw a single leader emerge at Microsoft who could fill his shoes or the needs of this lofty position. Looking at the available options today, I still don't." This in and of itself is a failure of leadership. If you can't groom a leader to replace you in 15 years, that's a problem. Some could argue it's deliberate (defending their job) others might argue that he just didn't have it in him to make it a priority. The board should have insisted. I would argue that our last 2 presidents, and the current mayor of NYC have made the same problem.
    • RougeFemme 13y ago
      Not disagreeing, just clarifying. . .do you mean that the last 2 presidents and Bloomberg should have been/should be more involved in grooming folks within their respective parties to take their places?
      • mathattack 13y ago
        Yes. Independent of your political stance, shouldn't Bush have groomed a few successors? You can see Obama's failure to groom the next generation when the top two candidates predate him by 20 years. NYC's mayor took a third term because there was no obvious candidate, and there's still not a good one.
• daigoba66 13y ago
  i wonder if his last day will be as awesome as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1M-IafCor4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1M-IafCor4
• joshuaellinger 13y ago
  They could buy Yahoo! and put Marissa in charge...
• jmaddox 13y ago
  Very sad news
• rrrrtttt 13y ago
  Let me tell you an anecdote why I think Ballmer was incompetent and largely responsible for the sorry state that Microsoft is in at the moment. Yesterday there was a long article in the Israeli newspaper Globes about the success of the Israeli adware companies. Israel has in recent years become a world leader in software that installs unwanted toolbars on your elderly dad and mom's PC and "monetizes" them until they get their son or daughter to come over and fix it. The list of such companies includes some really big ones, like Babylon and Conduit. These companies are making their profits by degrading Windows users' experience. Not only didn't Ballmer do anything to fight them, Microsoft actually has affiliate agreements with these companies to take a slice of the profits. Screwing your own customers like that cannot end well for Microsoft.
  • tuananh 13y ago
    Can you provide the source about the part " Microsoft actually has affiliate agreements with these companies to take a slice of the profits"?
    • gregd 13y ago
      Citation needed. Sounds like more FUD.
      • judydudy 13y ago
        Bing has affiliate agreements with them. It is not FUD. You can believe it or not.
        • JimmaDaRustla 13y ago
          S.O.U.R.C.E.?
          • bybjorn 13y ago
            There are a couple in the comments above, this is one example: http://allthingsd.com/20101201/conduit-dumps-google-search-for-microsofts-bing/ http://allthingsd.com/20101201/conduit-dumps-google-search-f...
• pdknsk 13y ago
  Stock immediately went up 7% on the news. http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AMSFT http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AMSFT
  • yogo 13y ago
    It could be the dawn of a new era for Microsoft. The company's stock didn't do anything exciting in the last decade but to Ballmer's credit he did keep the ship afloat.
• pcunite 13y ago
  And there was dancing in the streets!
• khawkins 13y ago
  Some people are claiming Balmer deserves some credit for keeping Microsoft profitable/status quo, but it seems like they're forgetting the stranglehold Gates had on computing when he left. It's not hard to keep the gravy train flowing. This is part of Balmer's problem, is that Microsoft thought it could stay current by essentially continuing its model of releasing new, sleeker versions of the same software every few years, ignoring that the fundamental way in which we interact with computers has changed drastically over the part decade. By the time they do innovate, they're too far behind to matter.
• BudVVeezer 13y ago
  In honor of this news: developers, developers, developers, developers...in techno. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ZarKIKpSA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ZarKIKpSA
  • ape4 13y ago
    Of course, he was right any platform needs developers.
• telephonetemp 13y ago
  I wonder: is this bad news or good news for Windows Phone?
  • sevkih 13y ago
    windows what?
• hkarthik 13y ago
  I hope they find the right leader to take over, and avoid a fate similar to what happened to HP over the past decade.
• drivebyacct2 13y ago
  I joined 3 months ago. Phew.
• davidbrear 13y ago
  Steve Ballmer is the perfect example of why a business person should not run a software company. The opinion that "Steve knows how to make money" is a poor indicator of a successful leader. Microsoft has alienated developers leaving only enterprise developers to create boring interfaces for users causing many personal computer users to find something more aesthetically pleasing (OSX/Ubuntu). A company based solely on making money is like a marriage based solely around sex and benefit to social-status. If you're a .NET developer and this offended you; good. Money != happiness
  • baggachipz 13y ago
    This is the tragedy that is a publicly-traded software company. Ballmer's sole responsibility as CEO is to maximize shareholder value, and the Board has to hold him to that. If A CEO prioritizes anything else, they will be fired and will become vulnerable personal lawsuits. It is literally their job description to make money over anything else. Taking the "long view" rarely appeases the Board, because short-term quarterly numbers are what determines the corporation's value.
  • onebaddude 13y ago
    >The opinion that "Steve knows how to make money" is a poor indicator of a successful leader Tell that to the people who, you know, own the company. I'm sure they'd be thrilled with your plan to make pretty interfaces but no profits.
• jusben1369 13y ago
  I'm most interested with the "type" of CEO they replace him with. Broad categories: - Within Tech: They hire an Apple type key executive whose background is all around getting hardware/software/direct sales to work together. They want to move to be a super tight, integrated brand. - Outside of Tech: They hire from a GE type of company. This acknowledges that they're a sprawling behemoth and will stay that way. They need someone who can manage a hugely disparate conglomerate. - Tech vs Sales: Broadly speaking Bill was a product guru with a huge slice of business acumen. Ballmer was all sales and number driven. How we describe the new hire will be interesting. - Mobile vs Cloud. Do we end up with someone really well known for their mobile background? Or someone who is really well thought of for understanding the cloud? For example Apple has generally nailed mobile and struggled in cloud. MSFT has actually done a little better in cloud than they're given credit for. But it will tell us what they think is more important by the hire. Any other suggestions?
  • canistr 13y ago
    Well the general strategy that SteveB has been preaching the past year is the "devices and services" strategy as well as consolidating Microsoft into functional units. And given Microsoft's push towards services to meet their bottom-line, cloud/services is likely their target. I think the best way to look at it is to start off by looking at Microsoft's acquisitions in the psat 10-15 (20?) years and see which former CEOs have integrated well within Microsoft. Consider that Microsoft doesn't even have a current Chief Software Architect anymore. I'm not particularly familiar with Microsoft's portfolio of companies, but perhaps someone like the former President of Skype (Tony Bates) would be someone they would put into the CEO position.
  • simonh 13y ago
    I want to live in a world where they hire Scott Forstall. It'll never happen, he's not an idiot, but oh boy would that be a ride!
    • panacea 13y ago
      "It'll never happen" It would mean he needs to get out of his leather couch, but why not?
• meerita 13y ago
  $500 for a phone???? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U
  • deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
• digerata 13y ago
  If anyone sees this as anything other than him FINALLY getting canned, then I have a bridge to sell you.
• Killah911 13y ago
  Congrats to Microsoftians! Hope the future holds better leaders and brighter days...
• pmelendez 13y ago
  Funny thing that people tend to prefer Gates' version of Microsoft ( which is full of popular but sub-quality products) rather than Ballmer's version ( with unpopular but more stable products)
  • hannibal5 13y ago
    I only realized what was wrong with Gate's version of Microsoft few years before he retired. It was only then when I learned that Gate's has been the chief software architect of MS all these years. Gate's is very intelligent guy, brilliant and ruthless businessman and knows software, but he is not software architect. When Ray Ozzie took over, things turned instantly better. Chief software architect is the guy who have to balance between the need to add features and general soundness of the system that translates into quality in long term. Gates clearly did not have that ability. MS products never had general feel of good design principles you get from many other software products.
• outside1234 13y ago
  The question really is: who is the best to run Microsoft? Its a hard choice: too much enterprise for anyone at Google, have to talk to folks outside of Microsoft (partners, enterprise) so that rules out anyone at Apple. So who then?
• npguy 13y ago
  Just after piracy hit all time lows. Good timing really. http://fakevalley.com/microsoft-pirated-software-sales-also-at-all-time-low/ http://fakevalley.com/microsoft-pirated-software-sales-also-...
• deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
• tmister 13y ago
  People here will argue that he is the worst CEO ever, that's debatable of-course. But I want to say some good things about him. To me he is a guy in a suit who understood software development. He shouted (in)famous "developers, developers, developers"[1], he knew that LOC is not a good measurement of software development[2], he poured loads of money in MSR ignoring the pressure of shareholders. For these reasons only he is a fine guy in my book. So I thank him for his works in Microsoft. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_detailpage#t=2338 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_de... (go to 38:59 time mark)
• danabramov 13y ago
  https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/370917100593762304 https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/370917100593762304
• Dogamondo 13y ago
  I guess he finally opened the '3rd envelope'
  • knz42 13y ago
    I opened the thread just to post this comment. :) Glad you did!
• edw519 13y ago
  +------------------------------------+ | | | Microsoft has encountered an error | | and Wall Street is not responding. | | | | If you choose to retire the CEO | | immediately, you will lose any | | unsaved cash cows and reboot the | | corporate strategy. | | | | [ Retire ] [ Cancel ] | | | +------------------------------------+
• ajays 13y ago
  I know the stock price isn't everything, but this is quite telling about Ballmer's reign: http://tinyurl.com/ballmerballmer http://tinyurl.com/ballmerballmer I didn't include AAPL, because that would have destroyed the others. And GOOG wasn't around in 2000.
• krmmalik 13y ago
  I don't have a resume that could even begin to get a second look for CEO for a company this size, but boy oh boy would i love to take this position. CEO of Microsoft or CEO of HP is something i'd absolutely love to do! Two companies I think i could really fix - as I'm sure could a million others, but just in case the recruiting firm is reading this and have decided to try a novel approach and try someone with no former Fortune 500 CEO experience. You never know. lol.
• puzanop 13y ago
  PeterMartin_IG It's a bit damning that Microsoft is up 6% after CEO Steve Ballmer announced he's retiring in 12 months. $MSFT
• bencollier49 13y ago
  Microsoft shares up in value in 5,4, oh it's already happened.
• known 13y ago
  He is suffering from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
• pelemele 13y ago
  They got awesome ideas but a really awful implementation of them - Tablet PC and Pocket PC devices/mobile phone (MDA anybody?) are two examples...
• ianstallings 13y ago
  Meanwhile, down at NASDAQ: BUY BUY BUY!
• xzrrwe 13y ago
  So, are they getting rid of that company destroying stack ranking at last? Or did Ballmer got into the 10% stack at last!?
• kunai 13y ago
  Ballmer's Microsoft really did have some intensely great research and development going under the hood, but the management was completely unacceptable for such a large company. There needed to be individual units so each team could work at their best, but unfortunately, the piss-poor management that Ballmer headed didn't allow this, and resulted in the up-down nature of Microsoft's product releases.
• mgirdley 13y ago
  Ironically, their CEO search process reflects the bureaucratic nightmare that is today's MSFT. Why not just park Gates in an office and interview the 10 best MSFT senior execs?
• agentsaran 13y ago
  Terrible CEO or not. Under his leadership Microsoft stopped becoming a software leader. They stopped leading and started following. Yes. Great products were launched. Windows Phone 8 (really cool interface), the Surface tablet, the xBox, Azure, various improvements to Bing. But they were outdone by competitors in almost all of these areas. Microsoft has to keep innovating, they have to become the disruptors. Right now, they're just busy playing catchup.
• jeffpersonified 13y ago
  We've hit the Ballmer peak!
• wil421 13y ago
  About time. I hope that he picks someone that can take MSFT from the boring and problematic company that we have no choice but to deal with, to a company that is producing products that actually make it easier to use things and more powerful (Windows 8 was a huge step back). They need someone who will innovate and continue to innovate.
• colmvp 13y ago
  > Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft's 30th employee, the first business manager hired by Gates. > Ballmer was initially offered a salary of $50,000 as well as a percentage of ownership of the company. When Microsoft was incorporated in 1981, Ballmer owned 8 percent of the company. In 2003, Ballmer sold 8.3% of his shareholdings, leaving him with a 4% stake in the company Wow. How common is it for such a late employee to have so much percentage of a company?
  • scholia 13y ago
    It was a very small company and self-financing, so its stock hadn't already been gobbled up by venture capitalists.
• dave1619 13y ago
  Anyone else thinking Bill Gates might be "chosen" to be the next CEO of Microsoft? It might sound ridiculous but he's been involved with his foundation work now for several years so it should be running well. He could probably leave the foundation to others to run now. So, he could return to Microsoft to try to lead it's resurgence. It's a challenge I wonder if he's up for.
• vbs_redlof 13y ago
  Share price is up ~6.5% haha.
• clarky07 13y ago
  I feel bad for ballmer. his legacy is going to be pretty terrible because the stock price was flat from when he took over until now. nobody seems to take into account that he took over in the middle of the tech bubble bursting and msft was hugely overvalued at the time. I think profit has tripled since he took over or something like that. following gates was already going to be one of the hardest tasks possible. getting handed an overvalued company in the middle of a bubble bursting makes it all but impossible. while i don't actually think he was a good ceo, i think he is much better than he gets credit for. they say he missed mobile, but i think windows phone is pretty good and new take on it. it was just a year or 2 late. xbox has been pretty fantastic overall. windows 7 was good. i think windows 8 has potential. azure is pretty good as far as i can tell. sure vista sucked (though not as badly as everyone says), and there have been other failures (kin anyone?). People act like other good ceo's don't ever fail. Jobs had plenty of failures. Ping, mobile me, etc... Jobs had the "benefit" of taking over an almost dead company. making it thrive meant stock went crazy and he gets to be awesome. Ballmer just got in on the wrong end of the market. Tim Cook might have this problem as well, but at least Apple wasn't wildly overvalued at the time.
• smallegan 13y ago
  As of right now the stock is up 6.5% upon the announcement of Balmers departure, that certainly can't feel good. (Other tech stocks appear to be down or holding level today)
• blahbl4hblah 13y ago
  I guess you can't lose almost a billion dollars and keep your job.
• bryang 13y ago
  It's about time....
• lv_ 13y ago
  i hadn't logged into hn for a long time but i had to comment on this. as being one involved in companies involving- Microsoft and i say Hallelujah!
• umarrana 13y ago
  i hope its not to late
• mayhaffs 13y ago
  Microsoft successfully won the battle of the desktop computer. It's amazing how this monument of achievement actually gave Microsoft a long-term disadvantage as desktop computing slowly became irrelevant to laptops and mobile. Failing now promotes success in the future. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 10 years, especially with DIY and web dev on the rise.
• deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
• mckoss 13y ago
  Ironically, the roughly 7% increase in MSFT share price due to his retirement announcement, has added nearly $1B to Balmer's net worth.
• nicholassmith 13y ago
  'It'll be better without Ballmer' is the 'If Jobs were alive' of the Microsoft world. I don't necessarily think that Microsoft has been doing a swell job, but I didn't think they were when Gates was in charge. Mostly it's a disappointment that they're that big and doing that little progressive. Still, he's not been an awful CEO, business has been good under Ballmer but progression has been awful.
• jokoon 13y ago
  I wonder what is bill gates thinking or planning now. Or what happened between him and ballmer from his nomination. Just looked after the reasons Bill Gates Stepped down, could not find a lot
• xedeon 13y ago
  ABOUT time!!
• enupten 13y ago
  All hail the destroyer of Nokia.
• dmourati 13y ago
  Microsoft stifled innovation. For a twenty year period, they held market dominance and used their monopoly power to maintain the status quo. They did a huge disservice to our entire industry. I say good riddance to bad rubbish.
• MoreConsiderate 13y ago
  I'd like to officially announce my candidacy.
• tiatia 13y ago
  Well, Mr. Apotheker, formerly SAP, formerly HP is available. He could give away the XBox, windows and office for free and migrate Microsoft more to enterprise software.
• joeldidit 13y ago
  Maybe now they'll stop harassing me.
• snambi 13y ago
  it may be good for microsoft?
• bosch 13y ago
  Help! On the off chance anyone at Microsoft reads this, my Microsoft account got deleted by a bug in Live Domains and I haven't been able to successfully contact anyone to report it or fix it. The forums have been useless and now I can't do anything MS related without my account including my phone! My e-mail is in my profile. (Apologies for posting this as I know it doesn't add to the discussion but I have no idea how else to contact an MS engineer.)