Hedge fund manager David Einhorn has publicly called out Steve Ballmer saying that he should step down as CEO of Microsoft. According to Einhorn, “his continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft’s stock.”
Over the past 10 years under Ballmer’s reign, Microsoft’s stock has been on the steady decline. According to Einhorn, an investor who bought $100,000 of Microsoft stock in 2000 would currently have $69,000 worth. Microsoft has also repeatedly missed the mark when it comes to releasing new and innovative products. Most seem to be on or below par. The rare exception is the Xbox and Kinect. (Despite the Xbox’s 52% console failure rate, it has overcome this serious flaw.)
For example, Microsoft had the lead in mobile computing with the Pocket PC and the Windows Mobile and Windows CE platforms in the early 2000′s. Some pocket PC’s even had built-in phones and were considered the first smartphones. Microsoft had the opportunity to deliver the modern day smartphone long before Apple debuted the iPhone, but they completely missed the mark.
Ever since Steve Ballmer took the reigns of Microsoft, the company has been in a long downward spiral. Despite the anti-trust practices of the 90′s, Microsoft used to be a company that pioneered innovation under the leadership of Bill Gates. Then in 2000, Ballmer got behind the wheel and everything started to fall apart.
Ballmer has shown that he is unable or unwilling to accept that his competitors are killing his company. Back in October 2010, Ballmer claimed that they were early to the smartphone game with Windows Phone 7. WP7 was years in the making and when finally released, it lacked many features that were considered to be standard. This point only serves to illustrate Ballmer’s total lack of mental awareness.
Steve Ballmer should be fired. He’s an extremely poor salesman, terrible leader, and clearly should not be the face of Microsoft for the new generation of products.
What are your thoughts? Is Ballmer just a victim of the post-90′s antitrust issues, or is he incapable of bringing Microsoft to the next level?
