Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Is Stepping Down
Microsoft CEO and former "monkey boy" Steve Ballmer will "retire" within 12 months, according to Microsoft, because, as Ballmer claims, this is just the right time.
.Microsoft CEO and former "monkey boy" Steve Ballmer will "retire" within the next 12 months, according to Microsoft, because, as Ballmer claims, this is just the right time. "We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team," says Ballmer in the official company statement. "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." Though, from this internal email Ballmer sent to his employees he doesn't sound too thrilled to go: "This is an emotional and difficult thing for me to do. I take this step in the best interests of the company I love; it is the thing outside of my family and closest friends that matters to me most."
Ballmer will stay until he finds a new successor, for which people have already speculated could come from within Microsoft, including some unlikely people like founder Bill Gates. Just recently the Windows-maker reorganized the company, as it attempts to better transition to Windows 8 — a general failure so far.
Despite his enthusiasm, Steve Ballmer's Microsoft hasn't been the most successful. It's still a huge company that makes a lot of money. But its new phone, tablet, and operating system efforts have all failed to take off. Ballmer has remained confident through all the failures, suggesting that people will get used to Windows 8's weird tiles, and its lack of Start menu, and a tablet that's a computer that's also a tablet. But they haven't yet.
People have been calling for Ballmer's resignation for years. Steve Jobs didn't think much of him. And Wall Street seems to love the idea: The company's stock has shot up in pre-market trading this morning nearly 9 percent on the news. But even if the boisterous leader's legacy won't be his products, he'll always have this: