“Wall Street loves a winner, and what happens when one of the most feared companies in the world becomes a limp, lame underdog? Nothing good. And it usually starts with the CEO’s ouster,” Betsy Schiffman blogs for Wired.
“‘This is a company that screwed up a real important product transition, and you’ve got to lay the majority of the blame at the foot of the CEO,’ says Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist and blogger,” Schiffman reports. “It was on Ballmer’s watch that Microsoft developed the Windows Vista operating system, arguably one of the most disastrous product releases in the company’s history. From a financial standpoint, Vista has generated billions of dollars in free cash flow, but the product was very late, sales have been disappointing, and it’s unpopular.”
“The operating system took five years to roll out, during which time PC sales growth stalled. And now, nobody really wants Vista, as evidenced by throngs of Windows users’ decision to downgrade to Windows XP,” Schiffman reports. “The Vista release is just the tip of the iceberg. Ballmer’s handling of the $40-plus billion Yahoo takeover was also mismanaged from the very beginning. ‘Ballmer has gone way above the call of duty to screw this up,’ Kedrosky says.
Schiffman reports, “But it’s not just how Microsoft has handled the takeover attempt that has drawn criticism, the reasoning behind the acquisition is equally questionable. ‘It’s pretty much the worst idea ever,’ says Toan Tran, an equity strategist at Morningstar, an investment research firm. ‘MSN basically died on a vine under Microsoft’s bureaucracy. If Microsoft swallows Yahoo, it’s going to die on the vine, too.'”
Schiffman reports, “There are two major reasons for keeping Ballmer around: 1) There isn’t an obvious replacement, and 2) It’s not clear that anyone could get Microsoft out of its current strategic mess. But if we were talking about any other company, Ballmer would have been kicked to the curb already — other CEOs have gotten canned for lesser crimes.”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jean Luc” for the heads up.]
Monkey Boy never should have been made CEO in the first place (fargin’ John Sculley could do a better job). That said, we hope Ballmer stays CEO of Microsoft for as long as it takes.
And now, for your enjoyment, a little video entertainment:
(stick with it, the song and dance number starting at 1:30 is priceless)
Direct video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6rqXHX3O48
There. “Monkey Boy,” “Uncle Fester,” and “Young Frankenstein” (not to mention “Johnny Dangerously”) references all in one Ballmer post.
Please keep him!
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And wasn’t Gates the Architect during the development of Vista?
Wow, I fully expected the source of this to be MDN trolling, but it seems several of us share this opinion.
I don’t necessarily want to see Microsoft go away, but I don’t think they will ever become the user-centric company they pay lip service to being…
Oh PS love the Ballmer/Uncle Fester/separated-at-birth picture!!
I can fix MSFT. It will take lot’s of pain but I can straighten out MSFT’s mess and make it a profitable company. It isn’t hard it just requires a change in thinking, and a demand that MSFT’s way isn’t the only way.
of course that won’t happen until after MST bleeds billions all over wall street.
Yes, keep him! We need his stupid decisionss for people to realize how pathetic Windows really is.
Double his salary and give him a billion share options if he’ll stay for ten more years.
This really is a disservice to poor uncle Fester.
NOO! BALLMER STAYS!
i dont want to see Microsoft go, theyre ok, but i dont like all the money they have and the power they hold.
BALLMER STAYS, i like how he “runs” things
Rumour has it that Steve Jobs is paying Ballmer’s salary…
I think were all pretty sure that we want Ballmer to stay forever. Keep up the job he’s doing now. Inject him with Botox if you have to, we need him there forever.
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woz
I’ll be happy to take the job…. but if I do, we’re starting over from scratch.
where else can you get a classic baboon like Ballmer. He is doing such a great job with Microsoft.
I hope he rules Microsoft until the end of time!
or more reasonable until Ballmer’s gets promoted to run a bigger Windows company in the after life….
Of course Gates will try to come back and save the company a la Steve Jobs ’97. But it won’t be Steve and it won’t be ’97.
Windows 7 will be rushed to release 3 years late and BURY anyone without 8 GHz CPUs and 32 GB of RAM. But those lucky enough to survive the upgrade will merely envy the dead. (And those of us w/ iPhones!)
He’s a a parasitic arachnid that attaches himself to the skin of terrestrial vertebrates.
Ballmer can’t leave yet.
He still has not finished what he obviously set out to do.
@ Jubel
A Botox injected Ballmer. I may never forgive you for the ensuing nightmares.
I am nominating John Sculley to lead Microsoft!!
Yeesss-sssss-ss. Keee-eee-e-eep hiimm-m-m-mm.
Either that, or shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.
Ballmer’s a sales monkey.
Please the Ballmer comparison is an insult to Uncle Fester.
Uncle Fester had style and talent. Ballmer is just an outlandish buffoon that toss office furniture when he gets a bit upset.
Uncle Fester had style he used dynamite chemicals and gun powder to blow-off steam.
MS should keep Ballmer on and maybe get him trainer and a few clowns to help complete the circus attraction they’re building up there in Redmond, WA. I might consider taking the family when they finish it.
Another article, with another great picture of Ballmer as Fester!
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/why-steve-ballmer-will-keep-chasing-yahoo/
Apple doesn’t need Microsoft to spur it to be more innovative, so I don’t see any reason why Microsoft should get its act together.
I wish Microsoft all the best in their current situation and I hope it lasts forever.
I couldn’t imagine working at Microsoft. I cringe just thinking about the bureaucracy. Here’s some points:
How many versions of Vista are there?
What color was the first Zune?
Transferring MP3 files from one Zune to another is called what?
You can only come up with such bad ideas by taking the “design by committee” approach to the extreme.
Labeling things by year was another bad idea (marketing-wise). I was just talking to a Windows drone yesterday – he said “I won’t get Vista, I like Windows 2000”.
My response – “Hmmmm, ya know, a lot has changed in eight years”.
any CEO who would approve the name “zune” is toast.
As the second largest stockholder after Gates, Ballmer will leave when he’s good and ready. I’m not anticipating any stockholder revolt any time soon because, well, those who think Windows is “good enough” have a high threshold for pain.
What he plans to do with his billions once he’s “had enough” is anyone’s guess. At least it’s a few billion today. No telling what those shares will be worth after Microsoft collapses in on itself.