Microsoft CEO Ballmer to retire within 12 months

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer unexpectedly announced his retirement on Friday, ending a controversial 13-year reign at the head of the world’s largest software company and sending the company’s shares up nearly 6 percent.

Ballmer, 57, took over from co-founder Bill Gates in January 2000, but his leadership was questioned throughout his tenure by Wall Street and Silicon Valley, as Microsoft’s stock price floundered and the company that drove the personal computer revolution was overtaken by Apple Inc and Google Inc in the shift toward mobile computing.

Ballmer’s planned exit comes shortly after activist investing fund ValueAct Capital Management LP took a small stake in the company, and started agitating for a change in strategy and a clear CEO succession plan.

There are no obvious candidates to succeed Ballmer at the company that has only had two CEOs in its 38-year history. Many promising executives have left or were pushed out by Ballmer.

Only last month Ballmer launched a massive reorganization to reshape Microsoft into a company focused on devices and services, essentially mimicking Apple. Most industry watchers felt it was too little, too late in the effort to restore Microsoft as a technology leader.

“Since he took over in 2000, it is fair to say he missed a number of transitions: mobile, tablets, cloud,” said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at ZK Research. “Microsoft continues to live off traditional PC computing. Ballmer’s strength is traditional PC computing. He was a great guy for his era but times have changed and a new leadership is needed. It’s hard to say his tenure has been a success.”

Ballmer has tripled Microsoft’s revenues and more than doubled its already-large profits since he became CEO, but its share price has essentially stayed flat over the last decade, and never came close to the split-adjusted high of $59.97 it reached in late 1999, before the tech stock bubble burst. Reuters