The name of Steve Ballmer It is today associated with the city of Los Angeles, California. And more specifically to his second basketball team, Los Angeles Clippers. As the owner of this team, the Clippers have won two division titles. But at the end of the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st, Ballmer was one of the best-known figures at Microsoft. Yeah Bill Gates was the creator and president of the giant behind Windows, Office and Hotmail, Ballmer was his second in command and in charge of liven up presentations and interviews.
If Steve Ballmer stood out in something during his time within Microsoft, in front of the general public, it was in his star appearances. Before memes existed as such and photos, videos and screenshots went viral, Ballmer managed gain the favor of the press and the public starring in fun situations that are far from what has always been understood as an executive. A search on YouTube will allow you to enjoy some of Ballmer’s most memorable performances: walking out on stage giving jumping and screaming, dance jerkily at a party or star parody videos along with the always introverted Bill Gates. His story is Internet history.
But today Ballmer is Microsoft history. Since 2014, a then unknown Satya Nadella He succeeded him as CEO of the company. Thus came to an end a stage that spanned practically the entire life of the Redmond giant. Microsoft may have been created by Bill Gates along with Paul Allen. But Steve Ballmer was always there when Microsoft was already the giant that we all know. Let’s remember who Ballmer was and what became of him after his time at Microsoft.
Steve Ballmer before Microsoft
Steve Ballmer Today it has assets of approximately 111.7 billion US dollars. He says it Forbesdated November 2023. Born on March 24, 1956 in detroitMichigan, the birthplace of the automotive industry and home to icons such as Ford,Chrysler either General Motors. Indeed, his father, Frederic Ballmer, worked for the Ford Motor Company in a position of some importance.
Born to a Swiss father and a Belarusian mother, his economic situation allowed him to study at the Brussels International School between 1964 and 1967. Then he would go through several centers to finally study at the prestigious Harvard University. In 1977 she graduated Magna cum laude in Literature, Applied Mathematics and Economics. During her stay at Harvard, met Bill Gates. They both lived on the same floor and hallway of the student residence that they shared with many other students.
During his professional career, Ballmer worked in Procter & Gamble a couple of years. He then tried his luck as screenwriter in Hollywoodbegan studies to obtain a MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business and, finally, in 1980, it joined Microsoft.
His profitable career at Microsoft
Founded five years earlier, Ballmer was Microsoft’s 30th employee. Office? Operations manager, including personnel, finance and legal areas of the business. This translated into a profitable salary accompanied by company shares. Furthermore, that year, Microsoft signed an important agreement with IBM to develop an operating system. In addition, he launched his own UNIX with which he would earn a fortune. The year would end with 40 employees and sales figures of 8 million dollars.
Between 1980 and 2000, Steve Ballmer He held various positions within Microsoft. In addition to being responsible for operations, he was in charge of sales, support and development of operating systems. For example, in 1992 he was promoted to Executive Vice President of Sales and Support. And in 1998 he was promoted again, becoming President of Microsoft. And as such, number two in the company. Number one was, of course, the CEO, Bill Gates. And as expected, when Gates left the company after the dot com crisis, Ballmer was his natural replacement. So between 2000 and 2014, the top leader of Microsoft was Steve Ballmer.
Controversial, inside and outside the office
Professionally, Ballmer had his ups and downs. He led the team he created .NET Framework. That would lay the foundation for what it is today Azure, an important pillar for Microsoft. And as CEO, he took charge of Microsoft in a very difficult period for the company, since Google became an internet giant thanks to its search engine and other emerging services and Manzana revolutionized the mobile market with the iPhone after its successful iPod.
It dealt with successful launches of its flagship Windows product, such as Windows Xp either Windows 7. And other more disastrous ones, like Vista or Windows 8. And tried to cope with Android and iOS with Windows Phone. And it went wrong. He also wanted to reconvert the personal computer by making it touch-enabled in an attempt to shadow the iPad. He also tried his hand at the digital music market by launching his own iPod, the Microsoft Zune. And he entered the sector of video game consoles with the Xbox.
But if he is remembered for something Steve Ballmer It is because of his extroverted nature and his ability to attract attention. In the style of a television car salesman, Ballmer created a character that contrasted and complemented the more serious figure conveyed by Bill Gates. If Gates gave off a nerdy image, Ballmer was the fun friend in the purest style John Belushi. Gates’ most memorable public presentations involve blue screens and other product errors. But Steve Ballmer’s are because of their bizarre performances that no one has wanted to emulate, except to parody him, but that they achieved their objective: attract the attention of the press to appear on the cover of newspapers, magazines and television news. Ballmer was viral before the concept became popular.
From Microsoft to the NBA
Steve Ballmer worked for Microsoft for 34 years. In his favor, it must be said that he had the reins of this company after a great crisis that ended with many companies and investors victims of the crisis. great crisis of 2008. And that, in large part, led to the departure of Bill Gates. In his 14 years as CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer received numerous criticisms for some of his decisions. But let’s remember that as rivals it had Google and Apple, who were then becoming the titans they are today. And yet, it acquired important products and brands, acquiring Skype, Nokia, LinkedIn either Navision, among other. In an analysis carried out by Forbesthey criticized Ballmer that stock market value of Microsoft would have fallen precipitously. Yes ok, profits had more than doubled.
And speaking of benefits. Ballmer’s portfolio also grew during his years at Microsoft. On the one hand, held management positions practically throughout his professional life. And have a percentage of company shares It caused his wealth to increase. In 2003, for example, he sold shares that were once worth 39 million for a price of 955 million. And, as he points out Wikipediawas the second person in the world to be a billionaire thanks to actions received as an employee.
What has Steve Ballmer done all these years? Following his departure from Microsoft in 2014, Ballmer was done with Los Angeles Clippers, the second basketball team in the city of Los Angeles. According to Forbes, bought this NBA franchise for 2,000 million. And today it is valued at 4,650 million. Not only that. As owner of the Clippers, Ballmer has managed to help this team win two division titles (2013 and 2014) and, for several years, be above the Los Angeles Lakers.
Other projects by Steve Ballmer
Owning an NBA franchise takes time, but not too much. Hence, Steve Ballmer has done more things in these years. Without going any further, in 2017 he founded USAFacts. It is an organization nonprofit focused on analyzing how money is used of American taxpayers and making that data available to everyone. On their page they state that they provide “accessible analysis of US spending and results in order to base public debates on facts”.
On the other hand, he is the co-founder of Ballmer Group. His other “partner” is his own wife, Connie Ballmer, whom he married in 1990 and with whom he shares three children. This investment company, created in 2015, says on its official website that its purpose is “to improve the economic mobility of children and families in the United States. “We fund leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunities and reduce systemic inequalities.”