Recently, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO since 2000, announced his retirement. Ballmer is expected to step down in the next 12 months. That will help make the transition easier for his successor.
But I’d like to take time to look at his body of work. Under Ballmer’s leadership, we’ve seen successes like Xbox and the upcoming Xbox One. We’ve seen Microsoft goes from Windows 2000 to Windows 8. We’ve seen hundreds of Microsoft retail stores all over North America. It’s now worth $78 billion and employees over 100,000 people. It’s gotten competitive in the smartphone game with Windows Phone OS. There’s also been snafus under Ballmer. There was the monstrosity of the Kin smartphone. There was Zune. There was Spot watch. There were the many critical and costumer complaints of Windows 7. Then there’s the competition with conglomerates like Apple and Google. Some battles were won, some left Microsoft in the dust.
Well you can’t win them all. I read Ballmer’s personal wealth is around $15 billion dollars. So he must have done something right. Let’s face it, Microsoft is a household name. Our lives wouldn’t be the same without it. I wonder what these last 12 months are going to be like. Do you think this will be a smooth transition or can we expect chaos?