The following is a statement via Microsoft’s News Center which consists of two letters. Here they are, verbatim:
Dear Satya,
As I approach the six month mark of my retirement and your appointment as CEO, I have been reflecting on my life, my ongoing ownership of Microsoft stock, and my involvement with the company. I have reached some conclusions and wanted to share them with you. I know August is the key month during which the company starts to prepare the proxy statement for the next shareholders’ meeting, and so these thoughts are probably timely for that too.
First, Microsoft has been my life’s work and I am proud of that and excited by what I see in front of the company and this leadership team. There are challenges ahead but the opportunities are even larger. No company in the world has the mix of software skills, cloud skills, and hardware skills we have assembled. We draw talent as well as any company in the world. We have the profitability to invest in long-term opportunities and still deliver superior shorter term performance. You’re off to a bold and exciting start.
Microsoft will need to be bold and make big bets to succeed in this new environment. Writing great software is a tremendous accomplishment and selling software has been a fabulous business. In the mobile-first, cloud-first world, software development is a key skill, but success requires moving to monetization through enterprise subscriptions, hardware gross margins, and advertising revenues. Making that change while also managing the existing software business well requires a boldness and fearlessness that I believe the management team has. Our board must also support and encourage that fearlessness for shareholders to get the best performance from Microsoft. You must drive that.
I had not spent any time really contemplating my post-Microsoft life until my last day with the company. In the six months since leaving, I have become very busy. I see a combination of the Clippers, civic contribution, teaching and study taking a lot of time. I have confidence in our approach of mobile-first, cloud-first, and in our primary innovation emphasis on platforms and productivity and the building of capability in devices and services as core business drivers. I hold more Microsoft shares than anyone other than index funds and love the mix of profits, investments and dividends returned in our stock. I expect to continue holding that position for the foreseeable future.
Given my confidence and the multitude of new commitments I am taking on now, I think it would be impractical for me to continue to serve on the board, and it is best for me to move off. The fall will be hectic between teaching a new class and the start of the NBA season so my departure from the board is effective immediately.
I bleed Microsoft — have for 34 years and I always will. I continue to love discussing the company’s future. I love trying new products and sending feedback. I love reading about what is going on at the company. Count on me to keep ideas and inputs flowing. The company will move to higher heights. I will be proud, and I will benefit through my share ownership. I promise to support and encourage boldness by management in my role as a shareholder in any way I can.
All the best,
Steve
Satya Nadella response to Steve Ballmer
First, thank you for all of your support during my transition this year and for the past 34 years. It’s been a great privilege to have worked with you and learned from you. Under your leadership, we created an incredible foundation that we continue to build on — and Microsoft will thrive in the mobile-first, cloud-first world.
While your insights and leadership will be greatly missed as part of the board, I understand and support your decision.
As you embark on your new journey, I am sure that you will bring the same boldness, passion and impact to your new endeavors that you brought to Microsoft, and we wish you incredible success. I also look forward to partnering with you as a shareholder.
On behalf of all of Microsoft and the Board of Directors, thank you.
Satya
Source: Beleaguered Microsoft, headquartered in Confusion City in the state of Delusion located smack in the middle of Batshit Insanity
MacDailyNews Take: My, what strong drugs they have up in Redmond.
The sobering reality for beleaguered Microsoft is reflected in the related articles below.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jack Frederick” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Beleaguered Microsoft’s moribund Windows Phone suffers shipment decline – August 18, 2014
Microsoft’s Windows Store is a cesspool of scams – August 18, 2014
Microsoft’s Xbox One has lost $400 million so far – August 11, 2014
Bill Gates unloads another 20 million Microsoft shares for $882 million – August 5, 2014
Surface damage mounts at beleaguered Microsoft as losses surpass $1.7 billion – August 4, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft’s Windows 8’s uptake falls again, now slower than Vista flop – August 4, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft employees ‘shell shocked’ at size of layoffs – July 18, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft’s 18,000 layoffs the beginning of a painful attempt to clean up Ballmer’s mess, says Street – July 17, 2014
Now he will have time to start beleaguring the Clippers.
Clippers already have a management team, coaches, players, etc. A general manager does not need to and very often does not get involved in most of the day-to-day workings of a team, leaving that to others. They are just there to help negotiate with broadcasters, etc. for money. I doubt Balmer will screw up the Clippers.
All you have to do is look at what the Dolans have managed to do to the Knicks over the years to see how badly owners can screw things up.
You vastly underestimate Steve Ballmer’s inflated sense of competence and overestimate his sense of restraint.
He will surely meddle I’m the day to day operations of the Clippers, much to the bewilderment and frustration to any of their fans not already familiar with the Monkey Boy.
For those who know him, they’re already at work, picking their new favorite team.
I guess this means the Lakers are now the official NBA team of MDN…
I hope he decides to be the Clippers’ head coach.
Maybe he should just hire Bobby Knight. Chair throwing seems to be part of his management philosophy too.
At yesterday’s LA Clippys introduction ceremony for Monkey Boy, I noted that a chair was placed on the stage – just in case a certain new owner of the team wanted to give it a good throw. I expect to see many chairs flying in Staples Center in coming seasons…
BTW, why does this company make all their correspondence public?
So one may learn how to B S yourself, from the masters. 😉
He said Microsoft has to be bold, but he forgot to say they have to be hardcore.
Wasn’t “hardcore” first popularized by the porn industry? What a bizarre word choice for his motivational speech to the team.
I expected nothing less from guy who as MS CEO signed off on using the term “squirting” to mean passing info between brown-coloured Zunes. And then had the gall to actually use it on stage and inflict that imagery on us.
Please don’t remind me of that!!
Too late! And you’ll never forget it now.
Curses!
I had repressed that memory. I’ll try again.
Good one!
“In the six months since leaving, I have become very busy.”
So he admits he was not doing anything… 😛
He was busy sweating and yelling. At least that will be acceptable at a Basketball game. Maybe he’s found his niche.
Is it officially a circle jerk if the number of people is just two?
Did anyone else notice how many times the words bold(ness), mobile-first, and cloud-first appear in these two letters?
And does that imply that MS admits Apple has won?
Oh my.
So…the original captain of RMS Titanic went down with the ship, but Steve Ballmer is way smarter than that. After figuring out RMS Microsoft was doomed, he stuck his cap onto fellow officer Satya Nadella’s head, handed over his medals, saluted, and lumbered off toward the lifeboats.
His new cash cow is the Clippers. He can lumber off as the biggest individual stockholder as he resigns from the Board. Six months from now, he can reduce his holdings in the Titanic shipbuilding company as an individual stockholder. He’ll be saying he needs to refocus on licensing Clipper logoware for apparel, screen savers and mousepads.
Perhaps MDN can claim “prior art”.
The Upshot
Rich and Richer
Sterling to Reap 15,900 Percent Return on Sale of Clippers
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/upshot/donald-sterlings-remarkable-rate-of-return.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0
I can’t decide if he’s mocking Microsoft. Perhaps I am impossibly biased.
He’s not intelligent enough to do that.
What a pre-concocted, bullshit, PR piece of utter drivel. This is like watching a cheesy soap opera with really, really bad acting.
When he was ousted from Microsoft, the value of his MSFT stock jumped by billions. Perhaps his resignation from the board is an attempt to net a few more billions before the company goes bust.
Ballmer: ” Count on me to keep ideas and inputs flowing.”
Satya: “Jeez, enough, just stay retired already”
“Source: Beleaguered Microsoft, headquartered in Confusion City in the state of Delusion located smack in the middle of Batshit Insanity”
Man, now that is funny sh!t!
His letter sounds like he misses being there – since he extolled on the company’s “growth and progress” so much!
Jesus! Ballmer teaching? What a truly horrifying thought!
And I pity the Los Angeles Clippers. It’s like Typhoid Mary running Manchester United.
=:~)
They wanted a new owner . . . be carful what you wish for.
I like John Gruber’s take on Ballmer’s message to the MS Board:
“Translation: ‘Good Luck'”
And Nadella’s reply translation is “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
Some people are fortunate that they had the right ancestral gene pool. Others are damn lucky with their college dorm assignment. In any of those situations, most often luck is what blessed them, not their abilities. Ballmer is a case in point.
Satya from the jerkstore called. They’re running outta Ballmers
The sooner Ballmer gets as far from Redmond as possible (a restraining order couldn’t hurt) the better. EVERY time Apple came out with a new idea Ballmer laughed at it, the iPhone, the MacBook Air and the iPad had him laughing like a hyena. Not too long afterward he’d notice that the products were succeeding he’d try to copy them in the worst way imaginable. Ballmer couldn’t notice a good idea if it was gnawing on his face. The less contact Microsoft has with Ballmer, the better off Microsoft will be.
Microsoft needs to rid itself of the host of stupid decisions left behind by Ballmer. Ballmer left behind stupid decisions the way a clown leaves behind confetti. Cleaning up after him is going to take a long time and hard work.
No-no-no! His work is not done yet. MS is not totally killed off yet. When it does happen, my property values in the local Redmond area will plummet, but then I could ‘but-up’ on a bank repo. Please Steve – keep those ides flowing. Keep the board divided. Threaten to dump stock en mass if they don’t listen and do it your way again….come back! Us Apple folks aren’t done with your leadership yet! 🙂
Please come back!!!
When Satya gets fired he can always get a job with the Clippers as a ball boy.
On second thought, Satya should work for Mr. Cook as his pool boy.
“I bleed Microsoft…”
So that’s what happened. A blood letting.
So his kids STILL don’t get an iPod?
This is a positive for M$. To succeed they must cut ties to the past that are holding them back. I’d argue he’s a bigger anchor to the past than Gates is at this point.