Investors Press Bill Gates To Go After Ballmer Departure

Karloff

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Investors Press Bill Gates To Go After Ballmer Departure



The investors hold over 5% of Microsoft stock.

Three among the top 20 investors in Microsoft are alleged to be pressing Bill Gates to leave his position as Chairman, after the departure of Steve Ballmer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128232-Microsoft-CEO-Bids-Tearful-Goodbye-to-Employees], Microsoft's former CEO and employee #30. These investors, who jointly hold over 5% of Microsoft's stock, are clinging to anonymity, according to Reuters, as the discussions are being held behind closed doors. Gates holds 4.5% of Microsoft's stock, the largest shareholding owned by an individual. The three pushing for Gates to go are concerned that Gates wields a power out of all proportion to his actual standing in the company - Gates is far more focused on his philanthropy these days than the company he co-founded - and worry that Gates will interfere in the selection of Ballmer's successor, or even the policies that Ballmer's successor follows.

Though Gates' is the largest individual shareholding, that may change. Under a set program, Gates automatically sells 80 million Microsoft shares each year. At that rate, he will have sold his entire holding within the next five years. Reaction to the news has been mixed. While some analysts view Gates' possible departure as a breath of fresh air - Microsoft's stock price has been stagnant for years, one of the reasons why Ballmer had to go - others hope that Gates will step up and become the technology visionary Microsoft so desperately needs. But that assumes that the man who stepped down from day to day operations in 2006, and who's more concerned these days with the Gates Foundation, still has what it takes to be a technology visionary.

One thing worth noting is that Ballmer's strategy, before he left the company, was to focus on making devices, like Surface and the Xbox, and turning key software into services provided via the internet. Some investors have argued that a new CEO should not be bound by that strategy, and if these are those same investors pushing for Gates' departure - and they get it - then perhaps, just perhaps, the day's not long off when Microsoft isn't a device maker any more. It's not as if the idea of selling Xbox hasn't been raised before [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124559-Analyst-Recommends-Sale-of-Microsofts-Xbox-Division], and Xbox One's debut this November could be rocky. We shall see.

Source: Reuters [http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/02/us-microsoft-gates-investors-idUKBRE9901H320131002]


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RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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So they basically want ol' Billy to become Steve Jobs or go home, eh? I don't know if the guy has it in him, considering how long he's been out of the game. I think they really do have a pretty good point in that at this point he's pretty much just a figure-head.

This does make me wonder what will be in store for the Xbox. I'd imagine this could play out as being one of the final death blows to the thing (getting a new CEO in general, not necessarily Bill leaving). Certainly seems like "The Investors" *dun-dun-dunnnnnn!* would like to abandon it seeing as how they apparently didn't like what Ballmer was doing with the MS company and its focuses.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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Ah, and microsoft is already falling apart from the inside, and we didnt even get them spewing hatred of how all those people who wont buy thier console "didnt udnerstand them".

Capcha: blog this.
well capcha want me to destract traffic from escapist. evil capcha.
 

IndomitableSam

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Sep 6, 2011
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Yeah, no. The guy uses most of the profits he earns to give back to charity and other foundations. They want him to leave and sell his stock just so other individuals can get richer? What jerks. I hope he stays and says a big fuck you to the sharehodlers trying to pull this.
 

mechalynx

Führer of the Sausage People
Mar 23, 2008
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Well, considering that this man made Microsoft what it was before Ballmer started tearing it to pieces, maybe those three Anons should go ahead and shut the fuck up. Microsoft is taking hits left and right nowadays and they thing it's a grand idea to rock the boat even more with internal struggle. Methinks these Anions are far more worried that the next CEO might take the smart way out and reduce stock pay in favour of R&D.
 

Jumwa

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Focusing a software company like Microsoft on making hardware was always a bizarre choice, and has not given them any real measure of success. Meanwhile, the Windows line has been degrading, and they face an increasingly dwindling usage of their old OS. Their late (and half-assed) attempt to go into tablets/smartphone OS's with Win8 won't cut it.
 

RicoADF

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Jun 2, 2009
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IndomitableSam said:
Yeah, no. The guy uses most of the profits he earns to give back to charity and other foundations. They want him to leave and sell his stock just so other individuals can get richer? What jerks. I hope he stays and says a big fuck you to the sharehodlers trying to pull this.
I hope he buys more shares and takes over to spite them. He knew how to run Microsoft, things haven't been the same since he left.
 

The White Hunter

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Oct 19, 2011
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Gates coming back to power could actually really give Microsoft a boost. They could use somebody like him.
 

Dr.Awkward

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I think now's the time to do a loyalty check with these shareholders... Perhaps see if they take the cash, shut up and go away if Bill offers to buy their stock? You can't tell me he can't do it, he IS one of the richest men in the world after all...
 

CardinalPiggles

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Jun 24, 2010
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So the cubs grew up, only to tear the alpha male to shreds.

Bill Gates built a billionaire company, I wouldn't question him.
 

lacktheknack

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Adam Jensen said:
Ed130 said:
So the likes of Office 365 and the Xbone may get the chop?

Good.
Not good. Without the console competition Sony won't have to innovate or behave like a boy scout.
It might induce Valve to be more aggressive, or may allow Nintendo to stick their hands in the AAA market properly. Or it might allow another company to put out a wildly popular console.

PS and Xbox are not the be-all-end-all consoles.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

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Sep 10, 2008
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Adam Jensen said:
Ed130 said:
So the likes of Office 365 and the Xbone may get the chop?

Good.
Not good. Without the console competition Sony won't have to innovate or behave like a boy scout.
Competition requires the opponent to be competent, something that modern MS clearly isn't.

Besides Valve's recent big push might end up taking up the challenge and not crashing and burning horribly.
 

Callate

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The very fact that there's no clear agreement whether the problem is too much Gates interfering too much with his old company or Gates not interfering enough in his old company strongly suggests the three behind that 5% should put a sock in it. In five years, Gates will apparently be irrelevant to the company's operation; in the meantime, barring a truly coherent vision of the direction Microsoft should proceed that Gates impedes, blaming him for the company's woes seems foolish.
 

Shadow-Phoenix

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Mar 22, 2010
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lacktheknack said:
It might induce Valve to be more aggressive, or may allow Nintendo to stick their hands in the AAA market properly. Or it might allow another company to put out a wildly popular console.

PS and Xbox are not the be-all-end-all consoles.
You mean like how a lot of fans of Valve want the new Steam machine to be the end all to be all?.

The exact same could go for the supposed "new wild popular console", besides Nintendo (who have been doing their own thing for a very long time) I can't see anyone else trying to take over everything and we shouldn't have one take everything.

At the end of the day we don't want one of them to monopolise everything just because a few want it that way.
 

lacktheknack

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Shadow-Phoenix said:
lacktheknack said:
It might induce Valve to be more aggressive, or may allow Nintendo to stick their hands in the AAA market properly. Or it might allow another company to put out a wildly popular console.

PS and Xbox are not the be-all-end-all consoles.
You mean like how a lot of fans of Valve want the new Steam machine to be the end all to be all?.

The exact same could go for the supposed "new wild popular console", besides Nintendo (who have been doing their own thing for a very long time) I can't see anyone else trying to take over everything and we shouldn't have one take everything.

At the end of the day we don't want one of them to monopolise everything just because a few want it that way.
How did that relate to anything I said?

Like... at all?

I said that, if Xbox dies, it's likely that another contender would step up to the plate before Sony got derpy.
 

BloodSquirrel

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Karloff said:
One thing worth noting is that Ballmer's strategy, before he left the company, was to focus on making devices, like Surface and the Xbox, and turning key software into services provided via the internet. Some investors have argued that a new CEO should not be bound by that strategy, and if these are those same investors pushing for Gates' departure - and they get it - then perhaps, just perhaps, the day's not long off when Microsoft isn't a device maker any more.
Okay, so what't the alternative strategy? Stick with a desktop OS market that's doomed to shrink as technological maturity makes upgrades increasingly unnecessary? Keep planing to be selling operating systems thirty years from now, when open source has finally caught up enough to provide a competitive product for free?

MS needs to move into new markets. Their entire business model was formed when the industry was young, and it's in danger of becoming obsolete and leaving them without a leg to stand on. How many companies are actually in the business of selling software aimed at non-business or professionals anymore aside from video games?
 

Psychobabble

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Aug 3, 2013
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lacktheknack said:
Shadow-Phoenix said:
lacktheknack said:
It might induce Valve to be more aggressive, or may allow Nintendo to stick their hands in the AAA market properly. Or it might allow another company to put out a wildly popular console.

PS and Xbox are not the be-all-end-all consoles.
You mean like how a lot of fans of Valve want the new Steam machine to be the end all to be all?.

The exact same could go for the supposed "new wild popular console", besides Nintendo (who have been doing their own thing for a very long time) I can't see anyone else trying to take over everything and we shouldn't have one take everything.

At the end of the day we don't want one of them to monopolise everything just because a few want it that way.
How did that relate to anything I said?

Like... at all?


I said that, if Xbox dies, it's likely that another contender would step up to the plate before Sony got derpy.
You mentioned Valve which automatically makes you a fanboi .. er .... somehow. *shrugs* Damned if I know.

I'd love to see Microsoft spin off or close their damned device division. Their whole company has become crap since they started it.
 

MCerberus

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Some MS Shareholders: stop meddling Bill Gates!
Other MS Shareholders: save us Bill Gates!
Bill Gates: You're not malaria, why should I care?