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August 23, 2013 05:12 pm GMT

Steve Ballmer To Retire As Microsoft CEO Within 12 Months

Image (1) ballmer2.png for post 17110In a surprising move today, Microsoft just announced that long-time CEO Steve Ballmer will retire in the coming 12 months. He will stay at the helm of the company until the board finds a new CEO. “There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,” Ballmer said in the company’s press release. “We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our companys transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.” On July 11, Microsoft announced a major reorganization to focus more on hardware. Ballmer signaled this change after firing Steve Sinofsky. At the time, he said that it was “imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings.” Instead of separating the company into multiple divisions (Windows, Office, Entertainment, Online), Microsoft is now divided into functions to serve a single purpose (Operating systems, Devices, Apps and services), very much like Apple. That’s why today’s news is even more surprising after Ballmer achieved such a big change for Microsoft. If his successor doesn’t like the ‘One Microsoft’ vision, he’ll have to do another reorganization. Even before Steve Ballmer’s retirement, commenters talked about a potential CEO for Microsoft. While he was fired recently, Steven Sinofsky was one of the most powerful executives at Microsoft and many regarded him as a Ballmer successor. Julie Larson-Green is another candidate. Microsoft has chosen to announce that Ballmer is on his way out before appointing a new CEO, which may indicate that his departure might come sooner than expected. The newly appointed special committee probably doesn’t have a name yet. Steve Ballmer became Microsoft CEO after co-founder Bill Gates retired in January 2000. Since then, the company has been very successful with products like Windows XP or the Xbox 360. On the other hand, it has developed controversial products as well, such as Windows Vista, the Kin and the Zune. He’s also famous for his “Developers, developers, developers” rally cry. Over the past 10 years, Microsoft shares have been mostly flat, while other companies such as Google, Apple or Amazon have soared on the stock market.

Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/XmZ3yReTnAM/

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