“Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer plans to extend a management shake-up aimed at adding senior product executives with an engineering background, two people with knowledge of the decision said,” Dina Bass reports for Bloomberg.
“Changes may be announced this month, said one of the people, who declined to be named because the plans are private,” Bass reports. “Last month, Ballmer pushed out server division president and 23- year company veteran Bob Muglia, saying the company needed new leadership that could focus on areas such as cloud software.”
Bass reports, “The move would expand on an effort to promote managers who have engineering skills and experience executing product plans — a bid to help Microsoft catch up with rivals such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in Web services, smartphones and tablet computers.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s ridiculous and sad when Google gets perfunctorily mentioned as if they raced out near the leader when all they’re really doing is being sucked along in Apple’s trailing vacuum.
Bass reports, “The overhaul also may quell criticism from the board and investors that Microsoft is falling behind in some markets. Four top executives have left the company since May.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Whatever it takes to mollify shareholders and board members so that Ballmer remains “in charge” is fine with us.
More like “bored” members. Microsoft just isn’t exciting.
Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer! Ballmer!
A headless monster choking on itself, the balled head visionary is lame.
“The overhaul also may quell criticism from the board and investors that Microsoft is falling behind in some markets.”
Outside of the legacy Windows/Office/Server franchises, Microsoft is falling behind in ALL markets – multimedia distribution, media players, smart-phones, mobile computing, gaming, etc. Even the developers are moving away from Microsoft, as the action is elsewhere. As Roughly Drafted’s Eran pointed out long ago, where Microsoft lacks the market control that comes with a near monopoly position, it loses, as it can’t deal with real competition.
This is the idea they should’ve copied from Apple all along.
And that my friends, is how the “goofy” cookie crumbles
May Sir Ballmer reign forever!
Sounds like Egypt’s Mubarak firing his cabinet and trying to stay on as supreme leader.
If microsoft promotes engineers, it would be the first time their upper management included someone who, like, knows the first thing about technology. Happily, shoe salesman Ballmer would still have the final say.
Love the pic!
Now, now, I wouldn’t call last quarter’s profit of $6.9 billion shoddy. Not at all. In fact it beat Apple’s profits by a very, very cool billion. Shall I spell that out for you, B-I-L-L-I-O-N. Yeah, that’s a fact folks!
Suck on that for a sinking ship!
I was reading an article of an outside executive visiting Apple and Microsoft.
He said the experiences were completely different. At Apple there were engineers and designers sitting at the table and everyone at Apple showed them max respect, at Microsoft there were only sales people.
I have a friend, a naval engineer, that could be interested in a job at Microsoft.
A naval engineer, huh?
Well if they’re as good as Ballmer is at converting Innies into Outies, they’re probably a shoe-in for the job.
Apple is now worth almost $1 Billion more than MS. Apple has $50 Billion in cash just sitting in the bank. I am disappointed by MS, they have money, they have market share and they have no CLUE what to do with them.
Hosni Moo-Ballmer is simply stalling while he negotiates the terms of his exile.
Aye, aye, Capt’n! Steady as she goes- uh, we might want to steer around that little iceberg over there………
It’s hysterical that everyone but Monkey Boy gets the boot, is pushed out or quits on their own. But I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing!
Too funny! May Monkey Boy continue his dance of death for as long as it takes.
Nice Photoshop treatment of Ballmer. Guess he’s throwing deck chairs of the ship today.
Steve Ballmer! For as long as it takes! Long may he reign!!
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@BLN: Ever heard of a trend?
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-microsoft-apple-revenue-income-2010-10
The skipper on the Titanic did the same thing. Stay strong Monkey Boy !
The Chief
“I wouldn’t call last quarter’s profit of $6.9 billion shoddy… it beat Apple’s profits by a very, very cool billion”
lol. Isn’t this the same mighty MS machine, that owns most of the world? I don’t know if your number is correct or not, but if Apple only has, maybe 10% of the users – compared to MS apparently owning *the rest of the world*, and their profit is only a billion better?
WTF? That is insane! If MS investors don’t see that and question their investments, they really do deserve to be MS investors.
Arrrr, shiver me timbers!
@ Raymond in DC:
Well, with Kinect, Microsoft is taking the early lead in spying on its users in their own homes! Isn’t that leadership in the “gaming”/Big Brother marketspace?
“…Microsoft is falling behind in some markets”?
That’s hilarious! Friends, what we have here typical MAC speak from another “reporter” who drinks the MAC Kool-Aid. Allow me to translate:
…Microsoft continues its decades-long domination of overpriced, proprietary MAC in all markets.”
There. Read it and weep MAC lemmings. Now that Ballmer has cleared out the dead wood you can only expect things to get worse for MAC. You MAC fangirls aren’t so smug and pretentious now, are you?
I love me some Tang!
When Microsoft says they are promoting engineers I can’t help but picture Dilbert and Wally finally getting to sit at the big kids table. Any ideas they come up with still have to pass through Monkey Boy and that aint gonna happen.