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==Public persona==
==Public persona==
===Viral videos===
===Viral videos===
Footage featuring Ballmer during on-stage appearances at Microsoft events have been widely circulated on the Internet, becoming what are known as "[[viral video]]s". The most famous of these is commonly titled "[[Dance Monkeyboy]]", and features Ballmer dancing around and screaming erratically doing the Nazi salute on a stage for about 45 seconds after being introduced at a Microsoft employee convention. Another video, captured at a developers' conference just days later{{Fact|date=November 2007}}, featured a sweat-soaked Ballmer chanting the word "developers" fourteen times in front of the gathering.
Morning Herald]]}}</ref>

===On competition===
====Linux====
Ballmer is also known as a vocal critic of competing companies and their products. He has referred to the free [[Linux]] software system as a "[…] cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.com.com/2100-1001-268520.html|title=Why Microsoft is wary of open source|publisher=CNet|last=Wilcox|first=Joe|coauthors=Stephen Shankland|date=[[June 18]], [[2001]]|accessdate=2007-01-26}}</ref> and earlier described it as having "[…] characteristics of communism that people love so very, very much about it."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/|title=MS' Ballmer: Linux is communism|publisher=[[The Register]]|first=Graham|last=Lea|date=[[31 July]], [[2000]]|accessdate=2007-01-26}}</ref>

====iPod====
In 2004, he made headlines by claiming that the most common format of music on [[Apple iPod|iPods]] is "stolen".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://management.silicon.com/itpro/0,39024675,39124642,00.htm|title=iPod users are music thieves says Ballmer|first=Andy|last=McCue|publisher=[[silicon.com]]|date=[[October 4]], [[2004]]|accessdate=2007-01-26}}</ref> During an interview with Fortune magazine, he was asked whether he used an iPod, and replied, "No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children—in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/04/03/8373041/index.htm|title=The sleeping giant goes on the offensive|first=Telis|last=Demos|publisher=[[Fortune Magazine]]|date=[[March 29]], [[2006]]|accessdate=2007-01-26}}</ref>

====Lucovsky / Google====
In 2005, [[Mark Lucovsky]] alleged in a sworn statement to a Washington state court that Ballmer became highly enraged upon hearing that Lucovsky was about to leave Microsoft for [[Google]]. Referring to Google CEO [[Eric Schmidt]] (who previously worked for competitors [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]] and [[Novell]]), Ballmer allegedly said "I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google." Shortly after, he resumed trying to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft. Ballmer has described Lucovsky's account of the incident as a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-ceo-im-going-to-fing-kill-google/2005/09/03/1125302772214.html |title=Microsoft CEO: 'I'm going to f---ing kill Google'|date=[[September 3]], [[2005]]|accessdate=2007-01-26|publisher=[[Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref>


==Media Portrayals==
==Media Portrayals==

Revision as of 17:30, 5 December 2007

Steve Anthony Ballmer
Born (1956-03-24) March 24, 1956 (age 68)
United States Detroit, Michigan
Occupation(s)CEO, Microsoft
Website[1]

Steven Anthony Ballmer (born March 24, 1956 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. Ballmer is the first person to become a billionaire (in U.S. dollars) based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In Forbes 2007 World's Richest People ranking, Ballmer was ranked the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion.

Family

On October 2, 2006, Ballmer was awarded honorary citizenship of Lausen, Switzerland. His father, Frederick Balmer, who emigrated to the US at the age of 23, was a citizen of the same municipality.[1] His father worked as a manager at Ford Motor Co

Ballmer married Connie Snyder, who worked in Microsoft's public relations agency, and has ten children. His wife is a sister of former major league baseball player Ben Petrick.

Pre-Microsoft

He grew up near Detroit.

In 1973, he graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a high school, and now sits on its board of directors.[2]

In 1977, he graduated from Harvard University [3]with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics. While in college, Ballmer managed the football team, worked on the Harvard Crimson newspaper as well as the Harvard Advocate, and lived down the hall from fellow sophomore Bill Gates.

He then[citation needed] worked for two years as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble, where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt, the future CEO of General Electric.

In 1980 [citation needed]he dropped out from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Microsoft career

Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and later succeeded Bill Gates as CEO.[4]

Ballmer is currently the longest-serving employee of Microsoft after Gates[citation needed] and has headed several divisions within Microsoft including "Operating Systems Development", "Operations", and "Sales and Support".

In July 1998, he was promoted to president.[citation needed]

In January 13 2000, he was named chief executive officer when Bill Gates stepped down from that position. As CEO Ballmer handles company finances, however Gates still retains control of technological vision.

In 2003, Ballmer sold 8.3% of his shareholdings, leaving him with a 4% stake in the company.[citation needed] The same year, Ballmer replaced Microsoft's employee stock options program, which had been instrumental in making early employees millionaires,[citation needed] with a stock grant program.[5]

Public persona

Viral videos

Footage featuring Ballmer during on-stage appearances at Microsoft events have been widely circulated on the Internet, becoming what are known as "viral videos". The most famous of these is commonly titled "Dance Monkeyboy", and features Ballmer dancing around and screaming erratically doing the Nazi salute on a stage for about 45 seconds after being introduced at a Microsoft employee convention. Another video, captured at a developers' conference just days later[citation needed], featured a sweat-soaked Ballmer chanting the word "developers" fourteen times in front of the gathering.

On competition

Linux

Ballmer is also known as a vocal critic of competing companies and their products. He has referred to the free Linux software system as a "[…] cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches."[6] and earlier described it as having "[…] characteristics of communism that people love so very, very much about it."[7]

iPod

In 2004, he made headlines by claiming that the most common format of music on iPods is "stolen".[8] During an interview with Fortune magazine, he was asked whether he used an iPod, and replied, "No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children—in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."[9]

Lucovsky / Google

In 2005, Mark Lucovsky alleged in a sworn statement to a Washington state court that Ballmer became highly enraged upon hearing that Lucovsky was about to leave Microsoft for Google. Referring to Google CEO Eric Schmidt (who previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell), Ballmer allegedly said "I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google." Shortly after, he resumed trying to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft. Ballmer has described Lucovsky's account of the incident as a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place."[10]

Media Portrayals

  • Bad Boy Ballmer : The Man Who Rules Microsoft (2002), Fredric Alan Maxwell, ISBN 0-06-621014-3 (unauthorized biography)
  • The 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley features Ballmer as a major character; he is played by actor John Di Maggio.
  • Michael Maccoby qualified him as a "productive obsessive" and the one keeping Microsoft's "show on the road" so Bill Gates could think about the big picture.[11]

Side References

Side references have been made to Steve Ballmer in: xkcd[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Galli, Hans (2007-10-05). "Die Zukunft von PC und Internet" (PDF). Der Bund (in German). Der Bund. Retrieved 2007-10-12. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ "Board of Trustees of Detroit County Day School". Retrieved November 14, 2007.
  3. ^ "Microsoft's Ballmer Makes His Pitch". Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "Information for Students: Key Events In Microsoft History" (doc). Microsoft Visitor Center Student Information. Retrieved 1 October. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Fried, Ina (2003-07-08). "Microsoft to award stock, nix options". CNet. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
  6. ^ Wilcox, Joe (June 18, 2001). "Why Microsoft is wary of open source". CNet. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Lea, Graham (31 July, 2000). "MS' Ballmer: Linux is communism". The Register. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ McCue, Andy (October 4, 2004). "iPod users are music thieves says Ballmer". silicon.com. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Demos, Telis (March 29, 2006). "The sleeping giant goes on the offensive". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Microsoft CEO: 'I'm going to f---ing kill Google'". Sydney Morning Herald. September 3, 2005. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Bill Gates can think about the future from the stratosphere because Steve Ballmer, a tough obsessive president, keeps the show on the road." Pg 76 "Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons" by Michael Maccoby, Harvard Business Review January-Febuary 2000
  12. ^ In comic (#323) of the webcomic xkcd which references a fictional "Ballmer Peak".

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer Says the Internet Is in Its Infancy from Stanford Graduate School of Business

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