Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

microsoft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 784 posts

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#61

Post by kjhughes »

What were the key Ballmer era highlights?

== Negatives ==

* Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html

* Developer relations / motivational speaking (thanks mathattack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

* Employee retention (thanks JonnieCache, Ziomislaw): http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going...

* Windows Phone: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/07/18/if-you-h...

* IPTV platform Microsoft Mediaroom (thanks nixy): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/

* Vista (thanks balakk, danieldk)

* Internet Explorer neglect and market share declines.

== Mixed ==

* Failed Yahoo acquisition (thanks michaelpinto, seanmcdirmid, throwaway1979): http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2008/may08/05-03le...

== Positives ==

* Xbox / games division (thanks benihana)

* Enterprise successes (thanks gregd, facorreia)

* Facebook investment (thanks riffraff)

[edits: updates per reply comment suggestions]

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#63

Post by Delmania »

I think Ballmer is an interesting case study in perception versus results. He's commonly portrayed as a poor CEO that has led Microsoft in the direction of irrelevance. And yet, to quote oft critic Gruber, "he knows how to make money" (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/04/19/msft-q3)

I'd love to sit down and talk to him, and see if his vision is a bit more long range than your average industry analyst, similar Paul O'Neill's vision on worker safety and Alcoa in 1987.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#64

Post by benihana »

kjhughes wrote: post #61

What were the key Ballmer era highlights? == Negatives == * Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html * Developer relations / motivational speaking (thanks mathattack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc * Employee retention (thanks JonnieCache, Ziomislaw): http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going... * Windows Phone: http://…

Positives: Xbox/Games division

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#65

Post by mathattack »

lee wrote: post #49
mathattack wrote: post #7

Huge news! Let's see what happens to the stock today. It edged up a little at the end of the day, suggesting that perhaps news was getting out. It's up 8% in premarket trading. [1] One interesting thing to note from that chart is their Beta (a measure of link to market volatility) is less than 1, which is very low for a high tech stock. It basically means that the market views them as less volatile to market conditio…

I'm not sure your description of Beta is accurate. Correctly if I'm wrong, but Beta is a measure of volatility in correlation with the broader market, not a measure of volatility in of itself. There are plenty of stocks that have beta Having a low beta simply means its price isn't as correlated with the overall market. An example, Netflix has a beta < 1 but is extremely volatile.

You are correct in your definition. I thought that's how I explained it.

Beta is volatility relative to the entire market. That's why I said "less volatile to market conditions than an index fund" Basically if the market has a big day, it will move up less than the whole market. Similarly on a down day. I think for both Netflix and Microsoft it's because they have strong brands and recurring revenue streams. They are also less dependent on external funding, so whether the market goes up or down has little impact on their P&L.

The converse, which you pointed out, is that they are highly impacted by non-market risks, which is very big, especially in the case of Netflix. There is a lot of discounting of future cashflows, so if something small happens (like splitting off the CDs business) then it creates a lot of volatility.

I think we're on the same page, no? Should I edit the original to be more precise?

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#66

Post by Ensorceled »

ojbyrne wrote: post #27
terhechte wrote: post #18

Now the question is, whoever will be next at the helm, will he / she be able to reverse directions and steer Microsoft into more relevant and fruitful territories. Ballmer's Microsoft was always late to the party, overseeing important technology trends and society transformations out of, I'd call it a mix of ignorance and arrogance; maybe they were also too blended by their previous successes. The way he dismissed iP…

Once upon a time, "late to the party" aka "fast following" was their strategy, and it served them very well.

Agreed. But they've been doing that pretty poorly recently as well, they keep trying to "innovate" instead of bringing their "copied from xxxx but integrated into MS stuff" solution.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#67

Post by anuragramdasan »

davidw wrote: post #53
anuragramdasan wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ballmer has always lacked the ability to see the future. Be it about him calling Zune the iPhone killer, or much prior to that claiming it in the media that no one would ever wan tto buy an iPhone. Also, really below par products.

> Ballmer has always lacked the ability to see the future. Maybe you meant 'envision' the future? Outside of Nostradamus, who, by the way, predicted not only Hacker News, Steve Ballmer's downfall, but also this very thread on the same subject, not many people have the ability to see the future, although some are better than others at imagining how it could be.

Hah. Okay didn't see that obvious mistake there. I meant 'envision'.

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#68

Post by mathattack »

kjhughes wrote: post #61

What were the key Ballmer era highlights? == Negatives == * Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html * Developer relations / motivational speaking (thanks mathattack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc * Employee retention (thanks JonnieCache, Ziomislaw): http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going... * Windows Phone: http://…

Did you capture the speech where he's ranting and raving to motivate the troops?

Re: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months

#70

Post by Ensorceled »

benihana wrote: post #64
kjhughes wrote: post #61

What were the key Ballmer era highlights? == Negatives == * Clashes with Gates during CEO transition of power: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.html * Developer relations / motivational speaking (thanks mathattack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc * Employee retention (thanks JonnieCache, Ziomislaw): http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going... * Windows Phone: http://…

Positives: Xbox/Games division

One almost gets the impression that Xbox slipped under Ballmer's radar and didn't get his full attention :-)
Post reply on HN