Steve Ballmer—Former CEO of Microsoft
👨💻StartupTalkersSteve Ballmer is an American Businessman and active Investor, who served as the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft from 13 January, 2000 to 4 February, 2014. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of $74.3 billion, as of December 2020. This makes him the 10th richest person in the world. He has received the Legion of Honour, one of the highest French order of merit, both in military and civil.
Steve Ballmer- Biography
Name | Steven Anthony Ballmer |
---|---|
Born | 24 March, 1956 |
Birthplace | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
Age | 65 (2021) |
Nationality | American |
Education | Harvard University; Stanford University |
Profession | Businessman; Investor |
Knoen for | Fomer CEO, Microsoft |
Net worth | $74.3 billion (December 2020) |
Father | Frederic Henry Ballmer (Fritz Hans Ballmer ) |
Mother | Beatrice Dworkin |
Spouse | Connie Snyder |
Children | 3 |
Steve Ballmer- Personal Life
Steve Ballmer- Education
Steve Ballmer- Professional Life
Steve Ballmer- Tenure at Microsoft
Steve Ballmer- Sports
Steve Ballmer- Philanthropist
Steve Ballmer- FAQ's
Steve Ballmer- Conclusion
Steve Ballmer- Personal Life
Steve Was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father, Frederic Henry Ballmer worked as a manager at the Ford Motor Company. He was a Swiss immigrant and envisioned that his son would attend Harvard some day. His mother, Beatrice Dworkin was Belarusian Jewish. He is the second cousin of Gilda Radner, who is an actress and a comedian. He married Connie Snyder in 1990 and they have three sons. The family currently reside in Hunts Point, Washington.
Steve Ballmer- Education
Steve attended the International School of Brussels while living in Brussels from 1964 to 1967. He then attended his engineering classes from Lawrence Technological University in 1973. He graduated from Detroit Country Day School as a valedictorian. He was the National Merit Scholar with a score of 800 in Mathematics section of the Standardized Test (SAT). He currently sits on the school's Board of Directors.
He pursued Bachelor of Arts in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University in 1977. Moreover, he was the manager for the Harvard Crimson football team and a member of Fox Club. He also worked on The Harvard Crimson newspaper and the literary magazine, Harvard Advocate. He lived down the hall from his fellow senior, Bill Gates. He scored higher than Bill Gates in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. In 1980, he dropped out of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was pursuing Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Steve Ballmer- Professional Life
Steve initially worked at Procter & Gamble for two years as an assistant product manager. He briefly tried to write screenplays in Hollywood. He dropped out of Stanford and left his MBA program to join Microsoft.
Soon after that, he was hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft in 1980. Gradually, he became president of the company in 1998 and replaced Bill Gates as the CEO on 13th January, 2000. He eventually retired from his CEO position on 4 February, 2014 and resigned from the Board of Directors on 19 August, 2014. He also served as the Director of Accenture Limited and was a general partner of Accenture SCA from 2001 to 2006.
Steve Ballmer- Tenure at Microsoft
Steve joined Microsoft on 11 June, 1980. He was then, the 30th employee of Microsoft and the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. During his 20 years term at Microsoft, he headed various divisions including, operating systems development, and sales and support.
He was appointed as the Executive Vice President of Sales and Support in February 1992. After leading Microsoft's development of the .NET Framework, he was promoted as the President of Microsoft. He held the title from 1998 to 2001.
On 13 January, 2000, he was officially named the Chief Executive Officer and replaced Bill Gates. He examined company's finances and daily operations. By 2006, Gates gave Steve the autocracy needed to make major management changes at Microsoft.
Steve received a mixed response under his tenure as Microsoft CEO. The company's sales grew multiple times with double profits. At the same time, the company somehow lost its market dominance and missed out on 21st century technology trends.
Steve Ballmer- Sports
Steve owns the Los Angeles Clippers, an American professional basketball team in Los Angeles. The team Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In May 2014, he was the highest bidder in an attempt to buy the Los Angeles Clippers worth $2 billion, which became the second-highest bid for a sports franchise in North American Sports history.
He further announced that he would prohibit the team from using Apple products such as iPads, and substitute them with Microsoft products. He even prohibited his family to use iPhones.
Steve Ballmer- Philanthropist
Steve and his wife donated $450 million to the University of Oregon. The funds will go towards the fundraising effort focused on scholarships, public health, research and advocacy and external branding/communications. He also provided $60 million to the computer science department of Harvard University.
He serves on the World Chairman's Council of the Jewish National Fund, which simply means that he has donated more than $1 million to the JNF. He also launched a non-profit organization, USAFacts.org in 2017. The program allows people to understand US government revenue, spending and societal impact.
Steve Ballmer- FAQ's
How did Steve Ballmer get so rich?
Ballmer was the second person after Roberto Goizueta 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. As of July 2020, Forbes estimates his personal wealth at US$71.4 billion.
How much Microsoft does Steve Ballmer own?
Steve Ballmer, as of the most recent report, owns around 333 million shares in Microsoft, valued at least at $40 billion.
What is Steve Ballmer Net Worth?
Ballmer has an estimated personal net worth of $71.5 billion(approx. 7,170 crores USD), according to Forbes. He ranks as the 11th richest person in the world and the richest team owner in U.S. sports.
When did Steve Ballmer join Microsoft?
Bill Gates hired Ballmer in 1980 as Microsoft's first business manager. Ballmer was the 30th employee to be hired at Microsoft. He was executive vice president of sales between 1992 and 1998. He became president in 1998 and CEO in 2000.
What did Steve Ballmer do for Microsoft?
Ballmer led Microsoft's development of the .NET Framework. Ballmer was then promoted to President of Microsoft, a title that he held from July 1998 to February 2001, making him the de facto number two in the company to the chairman and CEO, Bill Gates.
Steve Ballmer- Conclusion
Microsoft’s second CEO Steve Ballmer became CEO by succeeding Bill Gates. He was hired by Gates in 1980 as the company’s first business manager. Ballmer helped land a major deal with IBM to provide the operating system for its computers during his tenure as a Business manager. Steve was credited for continuing to grow Microsoft’s enterprise strategy and also steadily growing the company’s bottom line, looking after the launch of the original Xbox and investing in the cloud during his tenure as CEO. Ballmer retired from Microsoft in the year 2013.
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