Steve Ballmer to take his retirement in 12month

GoodBytes · August 23, 2013

Big news at Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft will take his retirement in a year.

Substantial news out of Redmond this morning: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is retiring within the next 12 months.

Ballmer has been a prominent fixture at Microsoft since joining the company in 1980. Prior to becoming the CEO, Ballmer was active in a number of Microsoft divisions, with a particular focus on the sales side of the house. He took over chief executive duties when Bill Gates stepped down in January 2000.

Though much pilloried in the tech press for Microsoft's more recent missteps, including Windows RT and, most famously, Windows Vista, Ballmer's tenure as CEO has been a positive one for Microsoft—at least from a revenue perspective. Under his leadership, Microsoft's net income has increased to $23 billion, with annual revenue climbing from $25 billion to $70 billion, with an average annual profit growth of over 16 percent.

Ballmer is responsible for expanding Microsoft's reach into a number of new areas, including the heavy push into the "post-PC" era with its focus on portable devices.Ballmer's Microsoft also created the Xbox and poured tremendous resources into gaining a foothold in the home entertainment market, and it developed an actual viable search competitor to Google.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/08/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-to-retire-within-12-months/#p3