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Hedge fund manager calls on Microsoft's Ballmer to step down
A HEDGE FUND MANAGER has called on Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to step down, blaming him for the many recent failures of the company.
The criticism notes that Microsoft stock has failed to increase in value for the last decade and the company has failed to tackle new markets, a view widely held by Microsoft's investers.
The hedge fund manager, David Einhorn, is considered highly influential in the market and his remarks caused Microsoft shares to rise by 0.87 per cent as investers anticipated big changes as a result of his comments.
Einhorn said Ballmer is stuck in the past and should therefore step down so the company can move forward and someone else can have a chance. "His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft's stock," he emphasised.
We can't blame Einhorn for being critical of Baller's performance, as Ballmer took the CEO position in 2000 and Microsoft has been losing ground ever since. Its Vista operating system was a disaster, its Windows Phone 7 launch was too late, it hasn't developed and marketed its slate PC, and its cancelled Kin phone was one of the biggest blunders in the industry, selling only a handful.
Einhorn is president of the Greenlight Capital hedge fund, which invested heavily in Microsoft shares, so it's understandable that he wants to see the company performing better. Greenlight owns around nine million Microsoft shares, equivalent to 0.11 per cent of the company.
Microsoft once ruled the market and remained top dog in market value until last year when Apple bumped it into second position. This week IBM took second place from Microsoft's grip, the first time in 15 years that it has been valued higher. And if things continue at this pace Microsoft might find itself even further down the list.
According to Reuters an investment of $100,000 in Microsoft shares in 2000 is now worth only $69,000. Investors fear that this capital loss could increase further if Microsoft doesn't heed Einhorn's advice. µ
Tags: Microsoft
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Q - What is the difference between a used car salesman and Steve Ballmer?
A - A used car salesman knows when he is lying.
Ask Ballmer to leave? What good would that do? That would be like removing the surface of a tumor, and calling the patient "cured".
Ballmer is the living manifestation of the Microsoft Corporation; he is a loud, oppressive, chair-flinging bully that does not give a hoot for anyone but himself (as a symbiont of Microsoft).
Have a good look at his picture and ask yourself this searching question: would you buy a used car from this man? If the answer is no, then why in the world buy his products and trust him with your data?
No, removing Ballmer would do nothing, as every Microsoft "replacement" would look a little different on the outside (hopefully!), but be the very same on the inside. It is Microsoft itself that needs to go.
Much as I'm not a Ballmer fan, I suspect the stock slide of the last 10 years has less to do with anything Microsoft has or hasn't done, than with the fallacy of comparing 2010 financials with 2000 financials. What was the tech market like in 2000? Not the one that it is now; Microsoft's grow-and-split mania in the late '90s wasn't Gates & Allen shepherding the company's direction: it was the investor-sheep driving the rest of the flock.
That pea brain is the best for the market.
How else are we going to get rid of Msoft
BALLOCKS.
Hmmm... On the other hand, Steve B has been a good thing for Apple, Google, Android, IBM.
Hmmm....
STAY WHERE YOU ARE STEVE.
It's about time someone called for Balmer's head. I thought it was a mistake to promote him to CEO in the first place. The last ten years for Microsoft have been a joke. This is what happens when you put a clueless MBA in charge of a technology company. Gates should have groomed a tech for the position. Bad successor choice as evidenced by a weak stock price, weak products, and too little to late to market with Windows Phone 7. And still no tablet answer to the iPads or Android tabs. Microsoft is getting left behind.