Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board • Hacker News Board

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#51

Post by kube-system » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 9:56 PM UTC

dave5104 wrote: post #38

tuna-piano wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Bill Gates is extremely competitive, he's a bulldog, he fights and wants to win against whatever. He built Microsoft into a Monopoly and is fighting hard (and doing a great job) against diseases. 2. Bill Gates looks at problems logically, finds missing links, and solves those links. Whether that is refrigeration for vaccines, getting useful data for diseases, etc. 3. Bill Gates knows a ton about diseases, epidemic…

Maybe someone with a medical degree? Gates can certainly bring some unique skills to the table if he was invited, but it seems like we should have an actual doctor leading the charge.

MDs are good at treating patients, but they're not necessarily good at leading people.

Good leaders know how to draw on the expertise of others to organize a coordinated response... which the Gates Foundation has proved themselves very capable of doing, particularly with public health issues. The Gates Foundation employs lots of healthcare professionals.

I'd highly suggest looking up some of the talks Gates has done about his work with his foundation. He definitely has his shit together.

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#52

Post by majos » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 9:57 PM UTC

downerending wrote: post #19

robertfw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on earth would he be the most qualified person for that?

During a local non-profit board election I once voted in, one of the candidates' position statements was a single sentence: I may not have a lot skills, but I'm really good at writing checks.

Did they win?

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#53

Post by sytelus » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 9:57 PM UTC

chx wrote: post #34

daxfohl wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of odd, being an employee there, I've never heard of eleven of the twelve board members before.

Usually you don't. The board is not something that directly affects employees lives.

They do. In a healthy company board is a sort of dampening force that steers CEO away from bad moves and advice him/her so that opportunities are not missed. Elizabeth Holms would be at much better place if board had excercised its authority. They are legally required to be part of almost all big decisions that are being made and they have the authority to at least bring in stockholder vote if they lose confidence in CEO.

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#54

Post by _jal » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

tuna-piano wrote: post #31

robertfw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on earth would he be the most qualified person for that?

1. Bill Gates is extremely competitive, he's a bulldog, he fights and wants to win against whatever. He built Microsoft into a Monopoly and is fighting hard (and doing a great job) against diseases. 2. Bill Gates looks at problems logically, finds missing links, and solves those links. Whether that is refrigeration for vaccines, getting useful data for diseases, etc. 3. Bill Gates knows a ton about diseases, epidemic…

I really despise the US habit of worshipping of the wealthy.

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#55

Post by burkaman » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

syedkarim wrote: post #41

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat diverse by race and gender. Completely non-diverse in terms of socioeconomic status, which may have been jayzalowitz's point. (Or may not. Maybe there wasn't a point except some drive-by snark. It's hard to tell with a post like that.)

Do any Fortune 500 boards have diversity in socioeconomic status?

Well, there's 29 German companies in the Fortune 500, and all of them are required to have half of the board be elected by the workers, so I imagine some of them should have socioeconomic diversity.

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#56

Post by dahart » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

spsful wrote: post #46

dahart wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boards serve in part to guide networking and policy for executives, and some are required to be external. It makes complete sense to have executives from other large corporations like Marriott. Marriott doesn't seem to stand out as any further away from software than any of the other board members, so maybe I'm not understanding your question; what about Marriott specifically caught your eye?

He would probably like to know why it makes sense to hire these external heads. If you were talking about the most outlandish of these board members, why would you say they deserve to be on the board? (I'm genuinely asking here as I don't know why myself)

Boards are required, and there are different kinds of board members, some of them are are appointed and/or voted in by shareholders. So it's not exactly a question of being "deserving". While Microsoft is probably going to have some sway, this process is not necessarily about Microsoft picking people to guide their development strategy, or picking people who are in their best interests. This is sometimes shareholders putting in people who can (among other things) - 1) oversee the corporate governance, make sure the company is playing fair with their stock, 2) put in people who are successful and can guide the company toward business success, 3) create a network for hiring & replacing executives when they leave for any reason. That said, having diverse input from other large businesses seems like it's always going to be an advantage.

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#57

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 10:00 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #27

vikramkr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it is pretty diverse for a corporate board. About a third women, couple people of color including the CEO and chairman. That's well ahead of the curve.

Somewhat diverse by race and gender. Completely non-diverse in terms of socioeconomic status, which may have been jayzalowitz's point. (Or may not. Maybe there wasn't a point except some drive-by snark. It's hard to tell with a post like that.)

[deleted]

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#58

Post by wombat-man » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 10:00 PM UTC

pdq wrote: post #32

Does this let Bill sell stock without needing to file SEC disclosures?

I think if you own a certain percentage of total equity you still need to file disclosures.

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#59

Post by therealmarv » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 10:00 PM UTC

haecceity wrote: post #50

chx wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually you don't. The board is not something that directly affects employees lives.

What do they do exactly?

Chat, meet and get a ton of money. E.g. stop crazy managers to buy a Finnish mobile phone company if they are good ;)

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-does-a-corporate-board-of...

Re: Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board

#60

Post by vesinisa » Fri, Mar 13, 2020, 10:02 PM UTC

a13n wrote: post #6

I would guess that Bill Gates has been looking to do this for a while now, and this is just a good time PR-wise. It won't tank the stock anymore than it already has because the market's crashing, and people have other stuff to worry about.

Eh, I honestly don't think he has to care how much any news would marginally affect the stock or not. Unless he actually cares if he or Bezos is the #1 wealthiest person -- both being anyways astronomically rich at the end of the day.

I didn't in fact even know he still had a role in Microsoft. My understanding was first Ballmer and then Nadella took over running the show years ago. So I don't think it's not even going to to affect investor sentiment that much.