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trparky
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join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T U-Verse

trparky

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Steve Ballmer Steps Down From Microsoft's Board

said by TechCrunch :
Ballmer is out of Microsoft.

In a public exchange of letters, former Microsoft CEO announced that he is stepping down from the software company's board, effective immediately. Current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thanked Ballmer for his service to the firm, and for his "support" during his early days as CEO.
»techcrunch.com/2014/08/1 ··· ts-board

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

Noting that was a brief thanks from Satya.

MS must look forward.

Gone are the days of raging Bulls like Ballmer.

Wily_One
Premium Member
join:2002-11-24
San Jose, CA

Wily_One to trparky

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to trparky
meh
I didn't care about Balmer when he was CEO, don't care about him now. Of all the tech CEOs he was not someone I looked to for his vision or knowledge, nor interested in his opinions for the most part. Bottom line is he was always second-string to Gates.
19579823 (banned)
An Awesome Dude
join:2003-08-04

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to trparky

I wonder when Gates will step out?

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

Link Logger to trparky

MVM

to trparky

Re: Steve Ballmer Steps Down From Microsoft's Board

The Microsoft you see today is still Ballmer's Microsoft so he left the ship pretty much firing on all cylinders and it will be interesting in a year or two to see how well Satya's Microsoft will compare. Certainly its interesting that Steve is Microsoft's largest individual shareholder and no doubt he will be cashing out to cover his other interests but will remain influential as a large shareholder. Having met Steve a couple of times I have to say I've always liked the guy and his wicked sense of humor.

Lots of folks including me thanks Steve for making us boatloads of cash on the ever increasing/splitting share prices at Microsoft over the many years of his involvement and so now we will see if Satya is made of the right stuff to continue making us boatloads of money.

Blake
lorennerol
Premium Member
join:2003-10-29
Seattle, WA

lorennerol

Premium Member

said by Link Logger:

on the ever increasing/splitting share prices at Microsoft over the many years of his involvement

The share price basically did nothing between 1998 and 2013. This almost exactly matches his tenure as CEO.

»finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s ··· l&q=l&c=

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

Link Logger

MVM

Paid dividends during his tenure as CEO.

»www.microsoft.com/invest ··· ult.aspx

Stock splits during 1998 - 2013
Feb 23, 1998 [2:1]
Mar 29, 1999 [2:1]
Feb 18, 2003 [2:1]

Worked for me.

Blake

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ to lorennerol

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to lorennerol
said by lorennerol:

said by Link Logger:

on the ever increasing/splitting share prices at Microsoft over the many years of his involvement

The share price basically did nothing between 1998 and 2013. This almost exactly matches his tenure as CEO.

»finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s ··· l&q=l&c=

Paying consistent dividends and value growth through the dot com bubble crash and the great recession. Not bad performance at all for investors.
lorennerol
Premium Member
join:2003-10-29
Seattle, WA

lorennerol

Premium Member

Except that the Dow was up 35% in the same period. For most investors, MS became a dud, compared to indexed funds and other tech stocks. I won't even start to compare MS to Google and Apple over that period.

The number of mis-steps, failed initiatives, and ongoing money-losing operations is pretty extensive. Let's not forget that at one point MS was the dominant player in smart phones and they abandoned that sector entirely.

Were it not for Office and Windows spraying cash like a fire hose throughout the rest of the operation, they'd be in deep trouble. $7,000,000,000 for Nokia? To control 2.4% of the smart phone market share in which they were once dominant and now lose money? Bing? Loses money. Xbox? Popular, but loses money. Kin phone? On sale for two months and pulled. Expressions? Dead. Everyone who stupidly bought a Windows 7 phone was left in the dust with no upgrade to Windows Phone 8. PSS, the support system for IT pros? Gutted but still $400+ per incident.

Sorry, I'm just not seeing the great performance here.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed to Link Logger

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The stockholders had to scream damn loudly before they even considered a dividend. I also agree with loren (and my father who.owned at lot of ms stock). When compared with the rest of the dow...
78036364 (banned)
join:2014-05-06
USA

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to lorennerol
said by lorennerol:

said by Link Logger:

on the ever increasing/splitting share prices at Microsoft over the many years of his involvement

The share price basically did nothing between 1998 and 2013. This almost exactly matches his tenure as CEO.

»finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s ··· l&q=l&c=

Uniformed not taking into account stock splits. The fact is not even counting dividends if you had MS stock in 1998 you earned about a 15% yearly return. Most people would do nasty sexual favors for that kind of return.
lorennerol
Premium Member
join:2003-10-29
Seattle, WA

lorennerol

Premium Member

said by 78036364:

Uniformed not taking into account stock splits.

The chart takes splits into account. Best to make sure you're informed before you accuse others of not being so

So can you show the math that got you to a 15% annual return? With a dividend of about 1% and an adjusted flat stock price, I can't get to 15%.

And FYI, Apple was at an adjusted $2 in 1998 and is at $100 today.

Kramer
Mod
join:2000-08-03
Richmond, VA

Kramer to lorennerol

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What difference does facts make? Of course you are correct. MSFT hasn't returned to its 2000 high, even today. I think it would be fair to argue however that by 2000, there was little Microsoft could do to become more valuable then take over the IRS.

Whether it is fair to blame the flat 14 years of MSFT stock value on Balmer is questionable. A company that grows to that level in such a short period of time, I think can be argued to have done fairly well to remain flat for the decade and a half after that enormous growth. Microsoft has assets that other tech companies could only dream about. If the iBusiness of Apple has a bad year, they are basically worthless. Google for the most part is based on advertising and someone could feasibly take that business away in a short period of time. Not saying it would be easy, but it is possible. Microsoft has a server/enterprise business that has been around from almost day one that has no real competition and the world is locked into it. Their Office suite is arguably without competition and the world is locked into that. As bad as Windows 8 was, the only competitor to take advantage of the failure was Microsoft with WIndows 7. Microsoft rules the desktop. Yes it failed with phones and tablets so far. Yes under Balmer they lost control of the Internet. I would blame Balmer not so much for the stock price but lost opportunities. Microsoft became a huge company that lost the ability to move rapidly enough to take advantage of new markets. I'm not sure there is a large company out there that could have done better. That's the danger that Microsoft found itself in. Success meant later failure. They are still relevant and they are still huge. Let's see if their similarly sized competitors after their initial growth spurt can keep that up for a decade and a half.
lorennerol
Premium Member
join:2003-10-29
Seattle, WA

lorennerol

Premium Member

said by Kramer:

I think it would be fair to argue however that by 2000, there was little Microsoft could do to become more valuable then take over the IRS.

I think a reasonable argument could be made that there were enormous opportunities in Internet search, portable music players, and smart phones that they were both uniquely positioned to exploit and entirely whiffed on (MSN Search/Live Search/Bing, Zune, and several stabs at smart phones). Also keep in mind that for over two years (January 2001 to October 2003) after Apple introduced iTunes it only ran on Macs...Apple left the door wide open for MS and they just sat there. And Ballmer himself scoffed at the iPhone, infamously stating, "...it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard." and "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share..."

So yeah, they make tons of cash off Office and Windows, where they are firmly entrenched, but as far as financially successful innovation goes, I just haven't seen much since Windows 95 shipped (and that was more evolution than innovation). And along the way they've left a trail of carnage and abandoned users: Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, Zune, Windows Home Server, Frontpage, Expressions, etc. Plus all those wistful Microsoft Bob users

maartena
Elmo
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join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to 19579823

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to 19579823

Re: ‏

said by 19579823:

I wonder when Gates will step out?

Bill Gates has stepped down as Microsoft CEO in 2000. He stayed on the board as chairman till 2008, after he completely stepped down from Microsoft's management altogether and only remains on the books as "technology adviser". He no longer has any decisive role in Microsoft, and is pretty much completely focuses on his foundation now.

Steve Ballmer took his spot as CEO, and now 14 years later he steps down. Unexpected, I must say.

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
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join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline to trparky

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Re: Steve Ballmer Steps Down From Microsoft's Board

This is strightly tongue-in-cheek -

After leaving Microsoft, a glum Steve Ballmer binged on 'The Good Wife'
quote:
The Wall Street Journal has published a fascinating look at the post-Microsoft life of former CEO Steve Ballmer, who spent 34 years at the company before stepping down in February and later buying the LA Clippers basketball team. Ballmer reportedly watched 100 episodes of The Good Wife in two weeks at home in an "atypical glum mood" before deciding what to do with his new-found free time.
»www.theverge.com/2014/8/ ··· icrosoft

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

1 recommendation

Link Logger to CylonRed

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to CylonRed
said by CylonRed:

The stockholders had to scream damn loudly before they even considered a dividend

Apple shareholders had to wait till Steve Jobs passed away before they could get a dividend.

Blake
lorennerol
Premium Member
join:2003-10-29
Seattle, WA

lorennerol

Premium Member

said by Link Logger:

Apple shareholders had to wait till Steve Jobs passed away before they could get a dividend.

True. But they also got a 50x return on investment over the last 12 years. MS investors got a 16 cent dividend and flat stock value.

Link Logger
MVM
join:2001-03-29
Calgary, AB

Link Logger

MVM

If apple fits your investment strategy then you have made some money, but over the last 3 years I'd rather be holding Monster Energy Drink MNST then Apple. Over the last 5 years WETF for example, there are always stocks that out perform the traditional investment engines, or play the start up game if you really want to shovel it in the bank (or lose your butt). Microsoft has done well for me and I've held it for a long time so I'm a happy camper as it fits my investment portfolio.

Blake