Gates Steps Down as Microsoft CEO
By
Bill Mann (TMF Otter)
January 13, 2000
In a surprise announcement, Bill Gates, chairman and co-founder of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), informed the public that he was stepping down, effective immediately, from his role as CEO. In his place will be Steve Ballmer, the current president of the company. This move marks the end of Gates' control of the day-to-day operations of Microsoft, a company he founded in 1975 with Paul Allen.
Gates will retain his seat as chairman of the board, and will take on the new title of Chief Software Architect for the firm. Gates stated that he wants to spend more time working on developing new computer technology, the part of the business that he has always loved the most. "I am going to take a new role, and it will allow me to spend most of my time on these new technologies," said Gates in his press conference this afternoon.
Gates, 44, is the richest man in the world due to the 15% stake in Microsoft that he holds. During the 25 years that Gates ran Microsoft, it grew from an idea for an operating system into the largest company -- as measured by market capitalization -- in the world, currently worth approximately $550 billion dollars.
Microsoft has had an extremely turbulent history, capped by the antitrust case brought about by the U.S. Department of Justice and 19 states in regard to Microsoft's alleged heavy-handed tactics used against companies wishing to provide Windows-compatible software, such as browsers. Windows, the core product of Microsoft, is estimated to run more than 90% of the world's PCs.
Steve Ballmer, in today's conference, reiterated that Microsoft under his leadership would oppose any consideration of a settlement to the case, and he made particularly venomous remarks about any end result that would lead to a breakup of Microsoft.
"I think it'd be absolutely reckless and irresponsible for anyone to try and break up this company,'' Ballmer said. "I think it'd be the biggest disservice anyone could do to consumers in this country.''
Ballmer has been at Microsoft since 1980, and has served as president since 1998. He is known for his brutally honest style, perhaps best manifested in the maelstrom he caused this past fall when he made public remarks about how the vast majority of tech companies, including his own, were highly overvalued. This statement caused much hand-wringing among investors and rivals alike, but Ballmer refused to retract the statement. Ballmer maintains a 5% stake in Microsoft, which helped make him the fourth-richest individual in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
Ballmer attended Harvard University with Bill Gates, though unlike Gates he graduated, with a degree in applied math and economics. In addition to his promotion to CEO, Ballmer will also be added to Microsoft's board of directors, effective January 27.
Related Links:
Microsoft Statement on Resignation of Bill Gates
Microsoft Message Board
