Ballmer to Quit... um.... I mean... Retire

[neu5eeCh]

Really? Am I the first to comment on this? Or is this on some other thread?

[AllRadioisDead]

Personally I'm a little confused by this. He's done a lot these past few months to try and turn the company into a devices and services company. I don't really see why he's retiring in the beginning stages of this transition.

[Roasted]

Well, that's somewhat disconcerting. With Ballmer behind the wheel, Microsoft's downfall is inevitable. I was looking forward to watching that long downspin too.

[AllRadioisDead]

Well, that's somewhat disconcerting. With Ballmer behind the wheel, Microsoft's downfall is inevitable. I was looking forward to watching that long downspin too.

I'd hate to break it to you, but Microsoft isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[neu5eeCh]

Well, that's somewhat disconcerting. With Ballmer behind the wheel, Microsoft's downfall is inevitable. I was looking forward to watching that long downspin too.

Me too. I was so disconcerted that I just bought Microsoft stock.

[prodigy_]

Microsoft has all its best days behind. So why not jump ship now while it's still afloat?

[vasa1]

But he was entertaining.

[neu5eeCh]

Microsoft has all its best days behind. So why not jump ship now while it's still afloat?

Apparently, you haven't seen all the cash in the cargo hold.

[AllRadioisDead]

You guys are making it sound like Microsoft is on the verge of going under or something. They made almost $5 billion last quarter.

[Roasted]

You guys are making it sound like Microsoft is on the verge of going under or something. They made almost $5 billion last quarter.

I was unaware Windows Phone and Windows 8 was such a hit.

[AllRadioisDead]

I was unaware Windows Phone and Windows 8 was such a hit.

So, two of their products aren't huge successes. They still made $5b.

[OrangeCrate]

Really? Am I the first to comment on this? Or is this on some other thread?

Maybe he should have "quit" sooner...

Ballmer Fortune Up $625 Million as Microsoft CEO Retires

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-23/ballmer-fortune-up-625-million-as-microsoft-ceo-retires.html

[tgalati4]

He made a simple business decision. Microsoft is worth more without him.

[deadflowr]

Somehow, for a long time, I have pictured Ballmer holding Gates over a Toilet and threatening him with a swirly if he wasn't given the CEO position.

Don't know why. But he always seemed like the kind of guy who'd do that.

Anyway, Microsoft is a solid blue chip company, they ain't going away anytime soon.

[OrangeCrate]

Somehow, for a long time, I have pictured Ballmer holding Gates over a Toilet and threatening him with a swirly if he wasn't given the CEO position.

Don't know why. But he always seemed like the kind of guy who'd do that.

Anyway, Microsoft is a solid blue chip company, they ain't going away anytime soon.

I certainly agree. If they would once and for all cut the ties to backward compatibility with their earlier releases, they could and would write a release that would knock your socks off. Though a successful IT consultant now, one of my son-in-laws worked for Microsoft in their code cave for several years. He says the technical skill of the company is quite remarkable.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

He can afford to retire and he is 57 years old. If he is ready to retire; then, I say why not.

[John_McCourt]

Our company is still buying Windows 8 machines. When the machines are being prepped for use we just install Classic Start. It's no biggy. Microsoft are a huge company and I'm sure they can weather the issues surrounding Windows 8. No doubt Windows 9 will be a big improvement. Microsoft isn't the only OS distribution that is being mismanaged.

[Welly Wu]

I hate to see him go as he was entertaining as hell, but he hasn't steered Microsoft in the right direction lately. I think his retirement will be a sigh of relief at HQ. Microsoft hasn't been on the leading edge of technology under his tenure. He cut a lot of promising ideas and technologies just to drive the company into neutral ground.

[neu5eeCh]

The more I think about it, the more MS reminds me of the old Soviet Union. Ballmer strikes me as a cross between Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. I'm not sure how many parts of each. I'm hoping that we get a real reformer in there, a man that the "West" can deal with.
:popcorn:

[Welly Wu]

Microsoft's best days are behind them now. They are still a force to be reckoned with, but they are no longer the omnipotent tech giant that they were 10 years ago before Steve Ballmer took over as CEO. I don't see this ship turning around, but I'm biased toward GNU/Linux. I think that with this Windows 8 platform, it's been their greatest mistake that they've committed. It's so bad that it's laughable. Steven Sinofsky and now Steve Ballmer have been forced out to retire. Don't think otherwise. Ballmer saw the writing on the wall after the first 90 days after Windows 8 launched and he was forced out politely. He messed up big time. So long as Microsoft is committed to Windows 8, they will be a slow sinking ship in due time. I can't tell you how many people are put off by Windows 8 and they've switched to Apple Macintosh PCs. I don't see a lot of them moving to GNU/Linux or Ubuntu either. We're still a small minority in the grand scheme of things. I'd say that Windows 8 is worse than Vista. There are so many people that won't buy a new PC because of Windows 8. Their friends, family members, and colleages at work tell them not to buy Windows 8 and that's their deciding factor. Then, they try it in the stores and they don't like it as much as Windows 7.

Now, the pressure is on for Microsoft to release Windows 9 and it absolutely must be their biggest seller of all time. If they keep to their Windows 8 strategy for Windows 9, then they are doomed. Nobody likes the Modern UI next to the desktop app. It sucks. It's worse than Ubuntu Unity.

[chili555]

You guys are making it sound like Microsoft is on the verge of going under or something. They made almost $5 billion last quarter.With which they did what? Owners of a company, all the way from Bill Gates, to mutual funds and even widows who own 50 shares, require one of two things from their investment: increases in share price or dividends. Of course, greedy guys like me prefer both!

Microsoft, under Ballmer's leadership, has delivered a piddling dividend and, excluding the pop that came when he announced his retirement, no share growth. If I were a Board member, I'd have been urging him to retire for many years. It's nothing personal, it's just business. Either do the job you were hired to do or depart and make way for someone who can.

[vasa1]

..., require one of two things from their investment: increases in share price or dividends. ....
Looks like the range for the price has been 25-35 dollars for the last ten years (excluding the tech meltdown period). No idea about dividends.

[chili555]

Looks like the range for the price has been 25-35 dollars for the last ten years (excluding the tech meltdown period). No idea about dividends.Please see: https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AMSFT&ei=C9QbUqiwMYyekQOKggE

The dividend yields, based on todays closing price of $34.10, a measly 2.69%.

Compare Apple, whose yield is now 2.43% but whose shares have ranged from $11 to $705 (!!) over the last ten years. That, Mr. Ballmer, is how it's done.

And this, Mr. Ballmer, is exactly why the Board is suggesting that you graciously retire: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/linux-windows-microsoft-android-ios,20220.html
if you consider all computing platforms, including mobile, than Windows has only 20 percent and Linux has 42 percent - and that would be in the form of Google's Android alone.

[vasa1]

Please see: https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AMSFT&ei=C9QbUqiwMYyekQOKggE

The dividend yields, based on todays closing price of $34.10, a measly 2.69%.

Compare Apple, whose yield is now 2.43% but whose shares have ranged from $11 to $705 (!!) over the last ten years. That, Mr. Ballmer, is how it's done.

And this, Mr. Ballmer, is exactly why the Board is suggesting that you graciously retire: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/linux-windows-microsoft-android-ios,20220.html
Thanks for that. But I wanted to know if, over the years, individual investors could justify their investing in MSFT on the basis of dividend yield.

And "They made almost $5 billion last quarter." is meaningless in isolation. A big vehicle, even if it's out of gas, will coast some distance, depending on the slope, before stopping.

[John_McCourt]

Compare Apple, whose yield is now 2.43% but whose shares have ranged from $11 to $705 (!!) over the last ten years. That, Mr. Ballmer, is how it's done.

Come back to this thread in two years time and I bet the share price of Apple will be significantly down. A fast rise isn't always good, especially when your product is seen as a fashion commodity. Fashions go out of style. People gave them the benefit of the doubt, but now they are failing to produce quality new goods. They are playing catch-up and not innovating enough. That can only go on for so long before the bubble bursts. The iPhone has had it's day and is now seen as old technology, the tablet market is saturated and computer sales are going down. Ipods have been replaced with phones too.

[vasa1]

Come back to this thread in two years time ....
See this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2164071&p=12766110#post12766110

[deadflowr]

Thanks for that. But I wanted to know if, over the years, individual investors could justify their investing in MSFT on the basis of dividend yield.

And "They made almost $5 billion last quarter." is meaningless in isolation. A big vehicle, even if it's out of gas, will coast some distance, depending on the slope, before stopping.

Yes, investors can justify investing in Microsoft, for long term investments.
That $5 billion is net income(profit) per one quarter.
But it is on par with past quarter results.
Note that they bring in close to $20 billion in revenue per quarter.

Personally, I don't favor or like Microsoft's business practices, but as a business it is rock solid.
As I stated earlier, it's a blue chip stock, it might not have meteoric growth, but its return on investment is steady.
In the investment world, the only thing safer than a blue chip stock is US treasury bonds.

[bweinel]

The dividend yields, based on todays closing price of $34.10, a measly 2.69%.
And this, Mr. Ballmer, is exactly why the Board is suggesting that you graciously retire

Yeah... For real profits they need to hire some of those cut-throat Walmart CEOs.... :P

cheers,
bill

[ikt]

With no named successor and a late-August Friday announcement, it didn’t seem smooth at all. They sacked him, pure and simple. - daringfireball.net

[chili555]

but its return on investment is steady.But paltry. You could do better, if you are satisfied with a steady dividend and slow or no share price increase, with any number of utilities.
They sacked him, pure and simple.Indeed. Either do something imaginative with that $20 billion in revenue or get out of the way so someone else can.

Of course, in technology, as in most other industries, the talent that can lead a corporation to consistent double-digit growth in sales and share price is both rare and expensive. The fact that there is no named successor or even any presumptive heirs strongly implies that Mr. Ballmer was also deficient in the next-most important job of a CEO: developing leadership and eventual successors (plural).

Some CEO's egos won't allow grooming several senior executives to be possible replacements.

Problem, Mr. Ballmer?

[SantaFe]

I'm sure that Mr. Ballmer won't stay retired long. Hmmm.... wonder if Ubuntu's Unity team will snatch him up? :D

[deadflowr]

I'm sure that Mr. Ballmer won't stay retired long. Hmmm.... wonder if Ubuntu's Unity team will snatch him up? :D

Maybe he'll go work for Apple.
I read somewhere yesterday that the bookies have started placing odds on who will take over.
and Apple CEO Tim Cook had something like 100 to 1 odds.

I would like to see a CEO swap go down.

[vasa1]

Decline of Digital Equipment offers lessons for Microsoft (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9242253/Decline_of_Digital_Equipment_offers_lessons_for_Mi crosoft_)


While many analysts have speculated that even if Microsoft fails in its volte-face or stumbles with its CEO choice, it could see years of impressive revenue while it also declines in importance, DeLisi drew on his experience at DEC to wonder if it would be otherwise.

[Yougo]

^ riding on the back seat and still raking in the dough. that's a strategy too... for now
riding shotgun wasn't a very pleasant ride; cutting edge high risk hard/software just isn't their game, it seems.
sure they did okay, but "okay" just doesn't cut it.

the iPhone5 has shown up on the horizon, and shops are purging their old models announcing ridiculous discounts. say what you want about Apple and their products, but there's a company riding shotgun, and loving it.

[Paqman]

there is no named successor or even any presumptive heirs

Elop?

[OrangeCrate]

Elop?

Quite possible.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/darcytravlos/2013/09/08/what-if-elop-becomes-microsofts-next-ceo/

[vasa1]

One person's opinion: http://www.zdnet.com/the-death-of-microsoft-7000021495/

And a nice vid in the comments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRUe-gz690