“Senior Microsoft executives, disenchanted with the company’s stagnant stock, have been secretly discussing how to kick Chief Steve Ballmer, and maybe the board, to the curb,” Peter Lauria reports for The Daily Beast. “An emotional tribute to his 30 years of service nearly brought Microsoft’s testosterone-fueled CEO Steve Ballmer to tears yesterday in front of more than 10,000 employees gathered in Atlanta for the software giant’s annual global sales meeting.”
“‘He was rendered completely speechless,’ a tweet from one of the conference’s attendees reported. ‘Incredibly intense and moving experience.’ According another Microsoft executive at the conference, there may be a reason for the drama other than gratitude: Ballmer may not be at Microsoft when next year’s event rolls around,” Lauria reports. “‘It felt like it could have been a sign of his last mgx [Microsoft Global Experience],’ wrote this insider in a text message to me. ‘A farewell?’ Indeed, this executive and several other sources close to Microsoft say that there is a growing resentment among a faction of certain executives inside the company who blame Ballmer for the years-long stagnation in Microsoft’s stock price.”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, by the way: JP Morgan ups Apple price target to $400 – July 21, 2010
Lauria continues, “Sources say the talk around Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters—which has grown increasingly louder ever since Apple surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization–is that the company’s stock suffers from a ‘Ballmer discount’ and that the CEO is on the clock to significantly move the needle on its share price over the next two or three quarters or face a potential move to oust him. ‘Ballmer is on the list of mega-executives under pressure,’ says a banker who has negotiated deals for Microsoft. ‘If he was asked to leave the building, I suspect there would be more happy than unhappy people.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Wait until Microsoft confirms that Apple have zipped past them in quarterly revenue, too.
Lauria continues, “There are also two powerful intangibles that will make it difficult for any group, however sizable, to remove Ballmer: Microsoft’s board supports him unwaveringly, and there’s no obvious successor that could easily slide into his post.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Leave him be. He’s doing an excellent job.*
*For Apple.
I think you’ll see Bill Gates step back in and try to save the company…he is the only real trusted figurehead for investors…man, when they do fall, they are going to really fall fast.
I almost feel sorry for them. They are business licenceers, not inventors, and it has finally taken its toll.
Let’s start a We support Ballmer group.
He has done for MS what no one else has.
Ballmer would do well as the Obama Administrations czar of knee-jerk reactions to false stories pandered by Faux News.
As far as stock price goes – work the product line up and stock prices will come along. SJ has not taken one step for the express purpose of pumping Apple’s stock price, it’s always improving the product. If M$ wants success, they need to copy the attitude, not the products.
PLEASE DO NOT GET RID OF BALLMER!!!
At least let him screw up the Windows 7 before kicking him out.
– Plays for sure
– XBox
– Zune
– Vista
– Windows Mobile 6,5
– Bing
– Kin
Adding a failed Windows 7 to this list would be perfect. : D
“.. and there’s no obvious successor that could easily slide into his post.”
Theres no one there can do the same pathetic job as well as he can.
And yes, MS has waited too long to dump him. All the better personnel have either left or were laid off. Maybe they should hire someone from their shareholders to run things. They were the ones who left him in charge all this time.
Or at least screw up Windows Mobile 7, that should be an easy one…
Noooooo! Keep Ball(war)mer where he is! No one else could possibly be more entertaining!
Developers! Developers! Developers!!!
Hey, Zung Tang!! What’s your take on this??
(crickets chirping…)
Headhunters…headhunters…headhunters…headhunters
Noone can fix Microsoft. Its stagnation is institutionalized. They need to break it into at least 3 companies to revive the dead horse.
Get back in the basement Uncle Fester
“there’s no obvious successor that could easily slide into his post”
Although this seems like an absurd statement, after some thought I think he’s right. Its takes an unusual talent to fail so miserably at so many things. You could have put a giant bronzed dildo at the head of MS, and it would have done better than Ballmer. Actually, maybe they should try that because at least their clients and developers would know what coming when they do business with MS.
Well if Microsoft would like to copy Apple (again) they could bring back Bill Gates. That would be interesting.
MAY BALLMER REIGN AS LONG AS IT TAKES!
the damage is done, people see Microsoft for what is truly is. A half hearted attempt to make an OS that people can use everyday thats design is taking from apple little by little. If you have a PC and you want to Benefits of a mac so bad store.apple.com. That is the only place you can get a true Personal Computer.
I don’t want to see him go, and I’m not speaking ironicly.
The ‘Apple Tax’ and the ‘Ballmer discount’ LOL. That’s kind funny :p
” a ‘Ballmer discount’ “
I generally refer to that as the “Ballmer tax” not a discount.
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When Ballmer finally gets shit-canned, he’ll join the long list of other failed ‘Tech-luminaries’ like John Sculley, Ed Colligan, and Bruce Chizen as a member of some obscure ‘Venture Capitalist’ firm, get paid a bajillion dollars for duping investors out of their money, and do very little (if any) real work.
Fucking sponge.
He’s ridden the MS gravy-train into the ground and now the real product people at MS are getting pissed. Good for them, but it’s too late.
MS will continue to decline because MS will bring in some other bloviating, do-nothing CEO and he’ll rearrange the deck chairs to make it look like he’s doing something constructive while the MS Titanic continues to sink.
We are witnessing the end of the ‘Dark Ages of Computing’.
Rejoice, for the end is nigh.
MaWo, ‘enough’. As in, ‘what MS employees have had…’
You hear about internal discontent and power struggles at Microsoft all the time. Apple’s executives are all lined up and marching in lockstep. There may be plenty internal disagreements and differing opinions at Apple, but you hardly ever hear about it externally. And they execute toward a singular corporate goal.
And I think that, more than anything else, explains Apple’s success compared to Microsoft. Apple is highly focused with its more limited resources; every Apple product (even something like Apple TV) is profitable almost immediately. Microsoft has all the resources in the world, but squanders most of it on countless projects that go nowhere and make no money (or lose money).
Maybe now would be a good time to put some money into Microsoft, because MSFT back down at $25 a share means investors see very little growth for Microsoft. But Microsoft still has the resources to come back in a huge way, with the right leadership to provide some discipline, enthusiasm, and focus.
Well, I think I’d be a great successor to Ballmer, and I know exactly what I’d do… First, I’d give China all the rights to MS technology. That would be in the United States long term interests, no doubt. Then I’d liquidate the company and pay off the stockholders, and thank Michael Dell for the idea, along with a small cash tip.
Then, having saved the world from the grips of ineptitude, I’d retire.
Dear MS Stockholders,
You have three basic choices:
1) Do nothing and watch MS shrivel up and die. It’s already started.
2) Boot the old school and reform MS as a creative, innovative company that actually contributes something of benefit to the computer community. It could happen!
3) Fold up the company and distribute the assets among yourselves. You’d be doing the world a vast favor: The end of the computer dark age.
Every man in the world would follow your great data just about this good topic to write the high quality essay or even speeches essay paper.
Think Atlas Shrugged…
Replace copper with software, reardon steel with iOS, crap, I just realized who that makes Balmer.
And for the record I have always wondered if Woz has a huge gulch somewhere that a bunch of folks visit for a month every year.
I hope Microsoft stays with their management until Apple buys them out
(side note , I think the editors at MDN have calmed down. I think I’m back)