Steve Ballmer Ballmer in 2010 Born March 24 1956 (1956-03-24) (age 55) Detroit Michigan U.S. Residence United States Alma mater Harvard University Occupation CEO Microsoft Salary

$1267670 1 Net worth US$14.5 billion (2011)2 Awards Lgion d'honneur3 Website Staff Bio at microsoft.com

Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer (born March 24 19564) has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000.4 As of 2011update his personal wealth is estimated at US$14.5 billion ranking number 46 on the Forbes list of billionaires.5 Contents 1 Early life 2 Microsoft career 3 Energetic behavior 4 On competition 4.1 Bill Gates 4.2 Free and open source software 4.3 Lucovsky/Google 4.4 Apple 5 Sports 6 Media portrayals 7 Wealth 8 References 9 External links Early life

Ballmer was born in Detroit Michigan to a Swiss-American father and a Jewish American mother. He grew up in Farmington Hills Michigan. In 1973 he graduated from Detroit Country Day School a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills Michigan and now sits on its board of directors. In 1977 he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in mathematics and economics.

At 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 worked for two years as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt who later became CEO of General Electric.6 In 1980 he dropped out of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business to join Microsoft.7 Microsoft career

Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11 19808 and became Microsoft's 30th employee the first business manager hired by Gates. Ballmer loved working at Microsoft.9 He was initially offered a salary of $50000 as well as a percentage of ownership of the company. When Microsoft was incorporated in 1981 Ballmer owned 8 percent of the company. He has headed several divisions within Microsoft including "Operating Systems Development" "Operations" and "Sales and Support." In January 2000 he was officially named chief executive officer.4 As CEO Ballmer handled company finances however Gates still retained control of the "technological vision". In 2003 Ballmer sold 8.3% of his shareholdings leaving him with a 4% stake in the company.10 The same year Ballmer replaced Microsoft's employee stock options program. In 2009 and for the first time ever he made the opening keynote at CES since Bill Gates left Microsoft as full-time chairman. Energetic behavior

Ballmer is known for his energetic and over-the-top behavior.clarification needed11 For example Ballmer's flamboyant stage appearances at Microsoft events are widely circulated on the Internet as viral videos. 121314 One widely circulated video captured at a developers' conference features a perspiring Ballmer chanting the word "developers".1516 On competition Bill Gates

The Wall Street Journal has reported that there was tension surrounding the 2000 transition of authority from Bill Gates to Ballmer. Things became so bitter that on one occasion Gates stormed out of a meeting in a huff after a shouting match in which Ballmer jumped to the defense of several colleagues according to an individual present at the time. After the exchange Ballmer seemed "remorseful" the person said. Once Gates leaves "I'm not going to need him for anything. That's the principle" Ballmer said. "Use him yes need him no."17 Free and open source software

He has referred to the free software Linux kernel as a " cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches."18 Ballmer used the notion of "viral" licensing terms to express his concern over the fact that the GNU General Public License (GPL) employed by such software requires that all derivative software be under the GPL or a compatible license. Lucovsky/Google

In 2005 Mark Lucovsky alleged in a sworn statement to a Washington state court that Ballmer became enraged upon hearing that Lucovsky was about to leave Microsoft for Google picked up his chair and threw it across his office. Referring to Google CEO Eric Schmidt (who previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell) Ballmer vowed to "kill Google" in an expletive-laden tirade19 then resumed trying to persuade Lucovsky to stay at Microsoft. Ballmer has described characterizations of the incident as a "gross exaggeration of what actually took place". Apple Speaking at a conference in NYC in 2009 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer criticized Apple's pricing saying; 'Now I think the tide has turned back the other direction (against Apple)' Ballmer said. 'The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment same piece of hardware paying $500 more to get a logo on it I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be.'20 Sports Steve Ballmer taking a seat at the KeyArena to watch the Seattle SuperSonics On March 6 2008 Seattle's Mayor announced that a local ownership group involving Ballmer made a "game changing" commitment to invest $150 million in cash toward a $300 million renovation of Key Arena and were ready to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics in order to keep them in the City of Seattle. However this initiative failed and the Sonics have since relocated to Oklahoma City now performing as Oklahoma City Thunder.21 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 DiMaggio. Wealth 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. Ballmer is the 46th richest person in the world according to Forbes with an estimated wealth of $14.5 billion.22 While CEO of Microsoft in 2009 Ballmer earned a total compensation of $1276627 which included a base salary of $665833 a cash bonus of $600000 no stock or options and other compensation of $10794.23 References Forbes. http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-ballmer/53617.  Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/steve-ballmer.  Sarkozy fait Steve Ballmer chevalier de la Lgion d'honneur AFP a b c Microsoft.com (2008-03-01)"Steve Ballmer: Chief Executive Officer". Microsoft. March 1 2005. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.mspx.  Ballmer profile at Forbes "First job: Assistant product manager for Duncan Hines' Moist & Easy cakes and brownies. His cubicle mate was Jeffrey Immelt now CEO of General Electric."David Lieberman (2007-04-29). "CEO Forum: Microsoft's Ballmer having a 'great time'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-04-29-ballmer-ceo-forum-usatN.htm.  "After two years Ballmer headed for Stanford University's MBA program for a better grounding in business. When the fledgling Microsoft ran into problems in 1980 Gates persuaded his friend to drop out and give him a hand. "Jay Greene Steve Hamm Jim Kerstetter (2002-06-17). "Ballmer's Microsoft". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/0224/b3787001.htm.  "Information for Students: Key Events In Microsoft History" (doc). Microsoft Visitor Center Student Information. http://www.microsoft.com/visitorcenter/student.mspx. Retrieved October 1 2005.  "Steve Ballmer: Chief Executive Officer". http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.aspxtabbiography.  MSFT: Major Holders for MICROSOFT CP - Yahoo! Finance Gavin Clarke (2009). "Ballmer garnishes Bing 2.0 with iPhone 'stomp': Return of the Kool-Aid kid". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/11/ballmeriphonebingwin7ad. Retrieved 2010-04-23.  Nicholas Mead (2010). "The best and worst of barmy Steve Balmer". http://en.onsoftware.com/the-best-and-worst-of-barmy-steve-balmer/. Retrieved 2010-11-27.  John Oates (2010). "Ballmer readies slate PC for CES: Monkey boy to hurl spoiler at Apple". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/06/microsoftslate. Retrieved 2010-04-23.  John C. Dvorak (2011). "Microsoft Needs to Check Itself". PC Magazine. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/02817238597200.aspkcPCRSS03079TX1K0000585. Retrieved 2011-06-12.  Ballmer Becomes lone voice at Microsoft's helm The Economic Times 30 June 2008 Chris Ziegler (2010). "Ballmer's visage evoked for 'developers developers developers' demo app on Windows Phone 7 Series". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/15/ballmers-visage-evoked-for-developers-developers-developers. Retrieved 2010-04-23.  Robert A. Guth (June 5 2008). "Gates-Ballmer Clash Shaped Microsoft's Coming Handover". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121261241035146237.htmlmodgooglenewswsj&aply&r125394. Retrieved 2008-06-05.  Microsoft CEO takes launch break with the Sun-Times Chicago Sun-Times June 1 2001; archived from the original on December 11 2001; retrieved December 18 2009 "Microsoft-Google battle heats up". BBC News. September 4 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4213466.stm.  "Apple is no more than a $500 logo". March 20 2009. http://www.slashgear.com/ballmer-critiques-apple-500-more-to-get-a-logo-2038377. Retrieved 2009-08-03.  SlashGear Mayor Nickels announces local effort to buy Sonics renovate KeyArena Forbes topic page on Steven Ballmer profile at Forbes 2009 CEO Compensation for Steven A. Ballmer Equilar External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Steve Ballmer Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Ballmer Corporate biography Forbes World's Richest People listing South China Morning Post audio interview Steve Ballmer Playlist Appearance on WMBR's Dinnertime Sampler radio show February 23 2005 Forbes.com's Billionaire List v d eExecutive officers of Microsoft Corporation Board of Directors Bill Gates (chairman)  Steve Ballmer  Dina Dublon  Raymond Gilmartin  Reed Hastings  Maria Klawe  David Marquardt  Charles Noski  Helmut Panke Chief officers Steve Ballmer (CEO)  Peter Klein (CFO)  Craig Mundie (CRSO)  Kevin Turner (COO) Presidents and VPs Steven Sinofsky  Qi Lu  Don Mattrick  Andy Lees  Jon DeVaan (SVP)  Richard Rashid (SVP)  S. Somasegar (SVP) v d eMicrosoft Board of directors Steve Ballmer  Dina Dublon  Bill Gates  Raymond Gilmartin  Reed Hastings  Maria Klawe  David Marquardt  Charles Noski  Helmut Panke Desktop software Windows (components)  Internet Explorer  Office  Visual Studio  Security Essentials  Expression  Dynamics  Money  Encarta  Student  Math  Works  MapPoint  Virtual PC  Forefront  Home  Flight Simulator  Bob  Skype Mobile software Windows Phone 7  Internet Explorer Mobile  Office Mobile  Windows Phone Live  Windows Mobile  Windows Embedded CE  Microsoft Tellme  Bing Mobile  Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone  Expression Blend Server software Windows Server  SQL Server  IIS  PWS  Exchange  BizTalk  Commerce  TMG Server  System Center  Home Server  SharePoint (SharePoint Foundation  SharePoint Server  Search Server)  Lync Server  Terminal Services  Microsoft Host Integration Server Technologies Active Directory  DirectX  .NET  Windows Media  PlaysForSure  App-V  Hyper-V  Silverlight  Windows Embedded  Mediaroom  Microsoft Auto  Microsoft Tag  HDi Web properties Websites and services adCenter  Bing  BrowserChoice.eu  Channel 9  CodePlex  HealthVault  Ignition  Microsoft Store  Windows Phone Marketplace  MSDN  MSN (Games  MSNBC  msnbc.com  ninemsn)  TechNet  Windows Live (Groups  Hotmail  ID  Messenger  Spaces)  Microsoft Popfly Live Games for Windows Live  Xbox Live (Arcade  Marketplace)  Zune Social Gaming Microsoft Game Studios  Zone  XNA  Xbox  Xbox 360  Games for Windows  Kinect Hardware Released Surface  Zune (4 / 8 / 16  30  80 / 120  HD)  Kin  MSN TV  Natural Keyboard  Jazz  Keyboard  Mouse  LifeCam  LifeChat  SideWinder  Ultra-mobile PC  Fingerprint  Audio System  Cordless Phone  Pocket PC  RoundTable  Response Point Prototypes Courier  Venus Education and recognition MCPs  MSDNAA  MSCA  Microsoft Press  Microsoft MVP  Student Partners  Research Licensing Client Access License  Shared source  Licensing Services Conferences MIX  Professional Developers Conference  Windows Hardware Engineering Conference Criticism Windows  Windows 9x (section)  Windows 2000 (section)  Windows Me (section)  Windows XP  Windows Vista  Office (section)  Xbox 360  Internet Explorer (section)  Windows refund  iLoo (section)  Studies related to Microsoft Litigation Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft  European Union Microsoft competition case  United States v. Microsoft  Microsoft v. Lindows  Apple v. Microsoft  Microsoft vs. MikeRoweSoft Acquisitions Altamira Software  aQuantive  Azyxxi  Blue Ribbon Soundworks  Bungie  Calista Technologies  Colloquis  Connectix  Consumers Software  Danger  Farecast  FASA Studio  Fast Search & Transfer  Firefly  Forethought  GIANT Company Software  Groove Networks  Hotmail  Jellyfish.com  LinkExchange  Lionhead Studios  Massive Incorporated  Onfolio  PlaceWare  Powerset  ProClarity  Rare  ScreenTonic  Skype Communications  Teleo  Tellme Networks  Vermeer Technologies  Visio Corporation  VXtreme  WebTV Networks  Winternals  Yupi Annual Revenue: $62.484 billion USD (2010)  Employees: 89000 (2010)  Stock Symbol: MSFT  Website: microsoft.com Further information: List of Microsoft topics Persondata Name Ballmer Steve Alternative names Short description Date of birth March 24 1956 Place of birth Detroit Michigan U.S. Date of death Place of death