Items tagged with Steve Ballmer
It has been over three years since Steve Ballmer left Microsoft, and the company has thrived without him at the helm. Current CEO Satya Nadella has transitioned the company into a “cloud” powerhouse and has embraced the lucrative subscription model for its products. Microsoft has invested heavily in deep learning technology and has focused more attention to promoting its apps and services on competing platforms like iOS and Android. In Ballmer’s absence, the company’s stock has nearly doubled from $36 to just over $70 per share. So, what is Nadella getting right that Ballmer seemingly got wrong during his 14-year reign as Microsoft CEO? Ballmer had a bit of self-reflection at this year’s Code...
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Microsoft is riding high these days under CEO Satya Nadella. The company is firmly entrenched in the cloud business, has deftly transitioned its software products to a subscription model for its most profitable customers, invested heavily in deep learning and advanced AI technologies, and is finally seeing some of the fruits of its investment into the Surface family of first-party hardware. As a result, Microsoft shares closed at an all-time high of $61 in late October (the company is still not far off that mark today at $59.15). With all that is going right at Microsoft these days, Bloomberg decided to have a talk with the man that previously headed Microsoft: Steve Ballmer. Ballmer took over...
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Steve Ballmer Calls BS On Microsoft Cloud Revenue Numbers, Says Universal Windows 10 Apps Won’t Work
It’s been nearly two years since Satya Nadella swooped into replace longtime Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer later resigned from Microsoft’s Board of Directors in August 2014 and has kept a relatively low [tech] profile since then. His most recent commentary about his former company was rather flattering, with Ballmer commenting in October, "Nobody else is really trying to compete with [Apple] anymore, really, seriously, in hardware. If there's going to be any competition for Apple, it'll come from Microsoft - and I believe that." This week, Ballmer once again had some words to say about Microsoft, and this time he wasn’t so kind. At Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting held yesterday,...
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It's being reported that a deal has been made to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer, 58, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft. Shelly Sterling, estranged wife of disgraced Clippers controlling owner Donald Sterling, signed off on the agreement as sole trustee of the Sterling family trust. The deal will now be sent straight to the NBA for final approval. Despite inking the agreement, Ballmer may want to hold off on popping open a bottle of bubbly. For one, the deal requires approval by the league office, and if it's granted, it must then be approved by three-fourths of the league's owners. Neither of those potential roadblocks are expected to stand in the way of Ballmer...
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What's quickly becoming one of the worst kept secrets in Redmond is that Microsoft is planning to promote Satya Nadella to the position of Chief Executive Officer, provided the two sides can come to terms on a contract. Nadella was always a candidate, though his name began coming up around the rumor mill a bit more frequently once candidates like Ford's Alan Mulally and Ericcson's Hans Vestberg dropped out of the running. Citing "a person familiar with the matter," The Wall Street Journal says Microsoft is currently in negotiations with Nadella to succeed Ballmer. If things go well, it would be up to the board to finalize his coronation as Microsoft's head honcho, handing him the ultimate keys...
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The search for a new Chief Operating Officer (CEO) to replace outgoing chief Steve Ballmer at Microsoft continues in earnest, though there won't be a new person in charge in time for New Year's day. Board member John W. Thompson revealed in a blog post that Microsoft is hoping to pin down a final candidate by the early part of next year. According to Thompson, Microsoft's board initially identified over 100 candidates to succeed Ballmer. After speaking with "several dozen," that list was shrunk down to about 20 "extremely impressive" people. Those candidates are where the focus has been in recent weeks. "As you would expect, as this group has narrowed, we've done deeper research and investigation,...
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Now that Steve Ballmer has announced his impending retirement, Microsoft is in search mode as it looks to hire a replacement Chief Executive Officer. It's the biggest decision facing Microsoft right now, followed by what comes next after hiring a new chief, a decision the incoming CEO will have significant input over. Given the magnitude of choosing a chief for one of the biggest tech companies in the world, you would expect some infighting among the board, but how much? According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the search for a new CEO has caused a rift among Microsoft's board members. There's some disagreement over who should assume the role, as well as the future of Microsoft and where...
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As he's done every year since taking over for Bill Gates as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft back in 2000, Steve Ballmer met with investors and analysts for an annual meeting. Having announced his impending retirement last month, this would be the last of those meetings he would conduct, offering a rare opportunity to offer up candid insight and reflect a little bit on his career. Ballmer took advantage of the opportunity and shared the one thing he'd like to have a second shot at, if you he could do it all over again. "If there's one thing I regret, there was a period in the early 2000s when we were so focused on what we had to do around Windows that we weren't able to redeploy talent...
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Former Nokia chief Stephen Elop has emerged as the odds-on frontrunner to replace Steve Ballmer at Microsoft, and while that may very well come to fruition, there are other candidates worth considering. Two of them include Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally and Computer Sciences Corp's (CSC) CEO Mike Lawrie. Citing "several sources familiar with the matter," Reuters says Microsoft and its special committee tasked with finding the company's next chief has a list of about 40 potential replacements it's considering. The list includes a mix of internal and external candidates for the job. Investors would be happy with either Mulally or Lawrie, both of which have favorable track records when it comes to...
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It remains to be seen what the history books will say about Steve Ballmer, the man who led Microsoft for the past 13 years after company co-founder Bill Gates entered into retirement. Now it's Ballmer who's retiring, and he's doing it at a time when Microsoft is struggling to find how best to transition to mobile. Fair or not, most will likely remember Ballmer for the current state of Microsoft and the company's failed Surface strategy rather than what he accomplished during his time as CEO. Certainly that's true of Steve Wozniak, co-founder of rival Apple. In an interview with BBC News, Wozniak was critical of both Ballmer and Microsoft. "I don't know how the world judges Steve Ballmer, but...
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There's evidently only so much a man can take, and honestly, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone: with profits falling, the PC industry as a whole crumbling in the wake of tablet and smartphone supremacy, and Windows 8 falling short of most expectations, Microsoft's CEO is throwing in the towel. Steve Ballmer, months after a complete re-org at the company, has just announced that he'll be winding down his role as CEO over the next 12 months, with Microsoft's board of directors now initiating a succession process. Until a successor is named, Ballmer has agreed to remain on as CEO. Essentially, he has agreed to hang around up to 12 months, but if they find a soul willing to take on his...
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Steve Ballmer, the outspoken and oft times animated CEO of Microsoft, might not always be the easiest boss to work for. It all depends on who you ask, and if you sit down for a spell with Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft from 1983 to 2002 in a high-level position, he'll paint Ballmer as a bully who forces out employees who dare challenge him. Kempin airs Redmond's dirty laundry in his new book, Resolve and Fortitude: Microsoft's "Secret Power Broker" Breaks His Silence, published today. He spoke with Reuters about the tell-all book, alleging that Ballmer purposely gets rid of executives who might have enough power to unseat him as CEO. "For Microsoft to really get back in the game seriously,...
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You would expect the head of Microsoft to ooze confidence when it comes to the company's Windows Phone platform, and you'd be right. Make no mistake, Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer wholeheartedly believes Windows Phone 8 will finally challenge Android and iOS in the mobile space, and he sees it happening at a faster rate than most might expect. "We are still relatively small... I expect the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly," Ballmer said in Tel Aviv during Microsoft's first Windows 8 launch event outside of the U.S., according to Reuters. Ballmer expressed confidence in the relationship Microsoft has with Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and others, adding that there's an "opportunity to create...
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Microsoft’s Ballmer Sees Future In Hardware And Online Services, Taking A Page From Apple’s Playbook
In his annual letter to shareholders, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated the company is headed in a new direction and will have a greater focus on hardware and online services in the future. "To best understand what we are about to deliver and what we're building toward, it's important to recognize a fundamental shift underway in our business and the areas of technology that we believe will drive the greatest opportunity in the future," Ballmer wrote. Ballmer feels this opportunity is around devices and services. As he put it, "Last year in this letter I said that over time, the full value of our software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and services at work and in their personal...
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Show of hands, how many of you own a Windows Phone 7 device? Anyone? Truth be told, we didn't expect to see many hands, because everyone's enamored with Android and iOS. The numbers bear that out, and even Steve Ballmer can't ignore them, who admits Microsoft's smartphone platform isn't lighting up the sales charts. "We haven't sold quite as many as I would have liked in the first year," Ballmer said at the company's financial analyst meeting, according to All Things D. The HTC TItan is a Windows Phone Mango smartphone that will show up later this year That doesn't mean Microsoft is willing to throw in the towel. Ballmer says big things are coming to the Windows Phone platform, including DirectX...
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You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout or do anything else that will land you on Santa's 'Naughty' list this year. If you do, forget about finding a Windows 7-based slate stuffed into your oversized Christmas stocking this December, assuming you put one on your holiday wish list in the first place. For those of you that did, it's entirely up to you whether you score a Windows 7 tablet for Christmas or not -- as far as Microsoft is concerned, they'll be available before December 25, 2010. "You'll see new slates with Windows on them. You'll see them this Christmas," Microsoft's Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told an audience of students, staff, and journalists at the London...
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It's already known that the Gates family is i-deprived, unable to get iPhones or iPods. It's also known that iPods aren't welcome on Microsoft's campus. Note to Microsoft employees: don't try to take a picture of CEO Steve Ballmer with an iPhone. It was Microsoft's annual private company meeting at Seattle's Safeco Field on Thursday. Besides previews of Bing 2.0 and Project Natal, there was a poor Microsoft peon who decided to take a photo of CEO Steve Ballmer. Not bad, in essence, except he tried to use his iPhone. Naughty, naughty, thought Steve. As tweeted by witnesses, Ballmer grabbed the phone, but was decently gentle with it. Hopefully, the owner had a case, as more detailed reports indicated...
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Investors have had a couple days to digest the strategic partnership Microsoft and Yahoo jointly announced this week, and they aren't exactly pouring money into Yahoo's coffers. The company's stock price (Ticker: YHOO) has fallen nearly 20 percent over the past five days, from its July 27 price of $17.31 to today's $14.44 (as of this writing). Microsoft's stock is up very slightly over the same period, from $23.11 to today's $23.81, but a flat trend doesn't constitute a ringing endorsement. "I was myself kind of surprised by the market reaction," Ballmer told a meeting for financial analysts at Microsoft's headquarters near Seattle. "Nobody gets it. It's a little bit complicated. Nothing...
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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has frequently commented on the so-called "Apple Tax," which is what is referred to as the premium people pay to buy Apple products. On Thursday, at the McGraw-Hill Companies' 2009 Media Summit 2009 in New York, Ballmer told people just what exactly that premium gets a consumer. NPD noted that Apple retail sales fell 16% in February, with NPD analyst Steve Baker asserting that the higher prices associated with Apple products are hurting sales in these recessionary times. It should be noted that these are retail sales (thus including Apple retail stores), but do not include data from direct sales. So what does Ballmer say the "Apple Tax" gets you? He said: "Apple gained...
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Is Microsoft bored with making office software and operating systems? Seems that way. In May of 2007, it purchased online marketing firm aQuantive for $6 billion. Speaking at a media event in Paris yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlined a future for the company over the next decade to realize 25 percent of their revenues from online and in-game advertising. Microsoft, the media company? That's right. As growth slows in Microsoft's core operating systems and desktop applications businesses—and as the threat grows from free software and applications offered over the Internet by the likes of Google -the software giant is scrambling for new sources of revenue and growth. Microsoft aims to...
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