Steve Ballmer (Former CEO of Microsoft) Biography

Steve Ballmer (born March 24, 1956, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.) American businessman who was CEO of the computer software company Microsoft Corporation (2000–14).

Ballmer graduated from Harvard University in 1977 with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and economics. After working for two years at consumer products company Procter & Gamble as a product manager, he attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In 1980 he left school to become a business manager for Bill Gates, a friend from Harvard who had dropped out of school and cofounded Microsoft. Over the next two decades, Ballmer held various posts as Microsoft grew into one of the most powerful and profitable companies in American history. Much of its initial success was due to the dominance of its operating systems MS/DOS and Windows.

In 1998 Ballmer became president of Microsoft, and two years later he became the company’s CEO, after Gates stepped down from that position to become chairman. Under Ballmer’s leadership, Microsoft diversified its focus through new products such as the electronic game console system Xbox, first released in 2001, and the Zune family of portable media players introduced in 2006. The Xbox struggled to make consistent profits, however, and the Zune players failed to challenge the market dominance of Apple’s iPod. Ballmer faced another challenge in 2007, when Microsoft’s operating system Vista was greeted with mixed reviews.

Gates, in order to concentrate on his philanthropic interests, withdrew from daily obligations at Microsoft in 2008, making Ballmer even more prominent as the public face of Microsoft. In 2009 the company expanded into the search engine market, releasing Bing. Later that year Microsoft brokered a deal with Internet portal site Yahoo! in which Yahoo! would use Bing for its Web site and handle premium advertisements for Microsoft’s Web site. In 2011 Ballmer helped arrange the $8.5 billion acquisition of the Internet communication company Skype. It was the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history and placed the company in competition with Apple’s video chat service FaceTime and Google’s Internet communication service Voice. In August 2013 Ballmer announced that he would be stepping down as CEO within a year, and he was succeeded by Satya Nadella in February 2014. Later that year Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA.

Also Read: Bill Gates (Former CEO of Microsoft) Biography

Steve Ballmer Biography

Steve Ballmer Biodata

Physical Appearance

Steve Ballmer Educational Qualification

Steve Ballmer Family Detail

Marital Status And More

Steve Ballmer Social Media Accounts

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Steve Ballmer Career

Ballmer began working for Microsoft on June 11, 1980, becoming the 30th employee and Gates’ first business manager. Ballmer was willing to accept a salary of 50,000 US dollars per year as well as 5-10% ownership of the company. When Microsoft was founded in 1981, Ballmer owned 8% of the company. In 2003, Ballmer sold 39.3 million Microsoft shares for 955 million US Doller, reducing his stake to 4%. In the same year, he took over Microsoft’s program for employee stock options.

After Ballmer was hired, he was in charge of developing operating systems, sales, and support, among other departments, for 20 years. Since February 1992, he has held the position of Executive Vice President, Sales and Support. Microsoft’s development of the.NET Framework was overseen by Ballmer. From July 1998 to February 2001, Ballmer served as President of Microsoft, effectively replacing Chairman and CEO Bill Gates as the company’s second-in-command.

Later Career

For a while, Steve Ballmer held vital positions in Microsoft. Some of the notable once include his service as the Executive Vice President as well as the establishment of.NET Framework. In 1998 he was appointed as the President of Microsoft until the end of 2001.The following year he was ranked as the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft.

As the acting CEO, Ballmer saw himself as the chief handler of Microsoft’s operations and finance sector. Under his management, Microsoft Company extended its activities such as the introduction of Xbox systems and space-saving media players. In 2014 Steve Ballmer resigned as the CEO of Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer Net Worth

Steve Ballmer is an American businessman and sports team owner who has a net worth of $144 billion. The vast majority of Steve Ballmer’s net worth is derived from his 333.3 million shares of Microsoft stock. That is roughly 4% of the total outstanding shares and today Steve is actually the company’s largest individual shareholder. Today Bill Gates owns roughly 1.3% of Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer Net Worth Milestones

• 1986 (IPO Day) – $85 million
• 1987 – $270 million
• 1995 -$2 billion
• 1997 – $6 billion
• 1999 – $13 billion
• 2008 – $10 billion
• 2014 – $24 billion
• 2017 – $33 billion
• 2018 – $42 billion
• 2019 – $45 billion
• 2020 – $77 billion
• 2021 – $101 billion
• 2022 – $88 billion
• 2023 – $130 billion
• 2024 – $140 billion

Salary

During his tenure as CEO of Microsoft, Ballmer earned a total salary of approximately $1.275 million. This included a base salary of about $666,000, a cash bonus of $600,000, and miscellaneous compensation of about $11,000.

Real Estate

In 2020, reports stated Ballmer had purchased a property in Hunts Point, Washington for $9.8 million. The historic home was built in 1902 and features 3,790 square feet of living space and roughly one acre of land. This wasn’t the first time Steve Ballmer had acquired real estate in the Seattle area. In 1987, he and his wife Connie purchased another home nearby for $1.325 million. Since then, the property has skyrocketed in value, and in 2020 it had reached a reported value of over $12 million.

In 2020, Ballmer also purchased the Forum in Inglewood for $400 million. The Forum was previously the home of the LA Lakers, although they later moved to the Staples Center. The Clippers are also currently playing their games at the Staples Center, but they will have the chance to return to their own venue after Ballmer redevelops the Forum.

Ballmer’s acquisition was a strategic one, as James Dolan (another NBA team owner) had been preventing Ballmer from constructing a separate arena nearby. Dolan’s company, MSG, purchased the Forum in 2012 for $23.5 million. After Ballmer successfully bought out Dolan’s interest in the Forum, he paved the way for a brand new, 18,000-seat stadium with all the latest features. Some estimate that this new stadium could cost over $1 billion to construct, and it is scheduled for completion in 2024.