Ballmer to retire as Microsoft CEO
Change will happen within a year once successor is chosen
Steve Ballmer is to retire as Microsoft CEO within the next year, the company has revealed today, adding credence to the rumours of a management reshuffle which accompanied Don Mattrick's departure earlier this year.
Ballmer will oversee the choice of his successor before taking retirement and remain as CEO during that process. The Microsoft board has appointed a special committee chaired by lead independent director John Thompson and including chairman of the Board Bill Gates, chairman of the Audit Committee Chuck Noski and chairman of the Compensation Committee Steve Luczo.
"There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time," commented Ballmer. "We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing senior leadership team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction."
"The board is committed to the effective transformation of Microsoft to a successful devices and services company," added Thompson. "As this work continues, we are focused on selecting a new CEO to work with the company's senior leadership team to chart the company's course and execute on it in a highly competitive industry."
Microsoft has said that it will be looking both internally and externally for candidates.
With the NASDAQ opening to the news of the voluble executive's departure, Microsoft stock has seen a sharp pre-market trading rise of over 9 per cent to $32.4 at the time of writing. Up to date prices reflecting current trading costs can be seen below.
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;-)
A little harsh calling them a troll.
You might not like the patent side of software but its known that Microsoft have invested huge amounts of money in R&D over the years and as a result have a large number of patents.
All large multi-nations software companies have owned and licensed patents and most of the time you never hear about it..
At least Microsoft produce products rather than truly trolling other companies with patents bought from others.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by John Donnelly on 23rd August 2013 3:52pm
She's definitely going to get it, because she's the Barack Obama of Microsoft. She's all over the news, she photographs and interviews well, and no one really knows what (if anything) she has accomplished there. But none of that really matters, because there's no possible way she can do a worse job as CEO than her predecessor.
That would sure give the industry a shake :)
Is it just me that is surprised to hear the Microsoft now wants to be Apple? That says an awful lot...
This is part of the reason for the share price spike this morning.
Other factors are related to the Nasdaq halt yesterday, people looking to take profits on a quick jump - the price came close to a 52 week high today and just general market sentiment on the tech sector.
As it stands the price is still up about 5% but it could end the day flat over all.
He did manage one good thing though, evicting expected successor Steven Sinofsky before going. With the chief architect of Win8 in charge change would have been difficult, maybe now they can pull back from the brink. That also raises promise that the XBone backtracking could become genuine, locked in change.
It's sad to see companies built by visionaries slowly overcome by the spreadsheet MBA crews.
Frankly, many see these departures as abandonment of accountability if Windows8 and Xbone fail to the level some industry researchers are alluding too!
Edited 1 times. Last edit by kevin williams on 26th August 2013 10:44am
Apple and Google are entrenched now.
Microsoft just failed to respond to customer demand. They thought that they could dictate when they should have been listening.
The next boss will have an immensely difficult job reversing the slide.