In 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 company’s 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.”
That’s why today’s news is even more surprising after Ballmer achieved such a big change for Microsoft. If his or her successor doesn’t like the ‘One Microsoft’ vision, he’ll have to do another reorganization.
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.
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. Shares are currently trading up 9 percent in pre-market hours.
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