Steven Anthony Ballmer, an American billionaire businessman and investor, was Microsoft's CEO from 2000 until 2014. He was born on March 24, 1956[1]. He is the NBA's (National Basketball Association) owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. His personal wealth is estimated by Bloomberg Billionaires Index to be over $114 billion as of June 2023, making him the ninth-richest person in the world.
After leaving Stanford University's MBA programme, Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates in 1980 to work at Microsoft. Later, in 1998, he was elected president. On January 13, 2000, he succeeded Gates as CEO. Satya Nadella succeeded Ballmer as CEO on February 4, 2014. Ballmer was on the board of directors of Microsoft until August 19, 2014, when he resigned to get ready to teach a new course.
He received mixed reviews throughout his time as CEO of Microsoft. Although the firm saw a threefold increase in sales and a twofold increase in earnings, it lost market share and missed out on 21st-century technological developments like the rise of smartphones like the iPhone and Android.
Early life
Ballmer, whose parents are Ford Motor Company manager Frederic Henry (Fritz Hans) Ballmer and Beatrice Dvorkin, was born in Detroit, Michigan. From Zuchwil, Switzerland, Frederic (1923–2000) immigrated to the US in 1948. Shmuel Dvorkin, a Russian Jew who emigrated to America in 1914 and worked as a merchant for a glass business, was the father of Steve's mother. Gilda Radner, an actress and comedian, is a second cousin of Ballmer through his mother. Ballmer was raised in Farmington Hills, a wealthy area of Michigan. From 1964 to 1967, Ballmer also resided in Brussels, where he attended the International School of Brussels.
He took engineering and college prep courses at Lawrence Technological University in 1973. He earned a 790 on the SAT's mathematics portion and graduated as valedictorian from Detroit Country Day School, a prestigious college prep school in Beverly Hills, Michigan. He was also a National Merit Scholar. Ballmer spent two years with Procter & Gamble as an assistant product manager, where he shared an office with Jeff Immelt, who ultimately rose to the position of CEO of General Electric. He started attending Stanford Graduate School of Business for his MBA after temporarily attempting to create scripts in Hollywood, but left in 1980 to work for Microsoft.
Work with Microsoft
On June 11th, 1980, Ballmer began working for Microsoft as the company's 30th employee and Gates' first business manager.
A $50,000 salary and 5–10% ownership of the business were both on the table for Ballmer. In 1981, when Microsoft was formed, Ballmer held an 8% stake in the business. Ballmer decreased his shareholding of Microsoft to 4% in 2003 by selling 39.3 million shares for around $955 million. He took over Microsoft's employee stock option programme in the same year. Ballmer oversaw the development of operating systems, sales, and support, among other departments, throughout his first 20 years at Microsoft. He was appointed executive vice president for sales and support in February 1992. Ballmer oversaw Microsoft's.NET Framework development. After Bill Gates, the company's chairman and CEO, Ballmer became Microsoft's president in July 1998, making him the company's de facto second-in-command.