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Microsoft Investors Call For Bill Gates To Step Down As Chairman
rjmarvin writes "Now that Ballmer is on his way out, flak for Microsoft's middling stock prices and lagging mobile innovation is starting to land on Bill Gates himself. Three of the company's top 20 investors are lobbying the Board of Directors, pressing Gates to step down as chairman. The stockholders believe his presence would handcuff the next CEO's ability to re-make the company with new strategies and sweeping changes. They also think Gates wields a disproportionate amount of power relative to his financial stake and day-to-day activity within the company. No word yet from Gates or the board on this internal strife."
"Yeah, about that... Go fuck yourself. Now if you don't mind, I have to go save thousands of African kids from getting malaria. Back at 3pm"
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
...from looting Microsoft.
The headline is a bit misleading.
THREE of 20 of the top investers have demanded Gates step down.
Non-news.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
These are people who want power for themselves. It's not because they believe Gates does a poor job.
When the investors take over the company, beware. This is what happened to HP.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Bill Gates is chairman in name only, is he not?
This would seem fitting since it is the company that be he built....it's kind of shitty to force people out of the thing they made.
Alternatively, perhaps Bill Gates will be to Microsoft as the Schwartzes were to Grey Matter...
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
As much as I disagree with his business tactics over the years, Gates is a freaking genius. One read of the "Internet Tidal Wave" memo, which was written years ago and was correct about 90% of its predictions, should tell you that. Gates was one of the primary reasons, if not the only reason, Microsoft was successful to begin with. These three people are complete fools and ought to be off with Ballmer.
I've supported Microsoft for many years and I still believe they do some things right but on the consumer side they are lacking to say the least. They need new blood that will change the face of MS. They need to continue what they do for MS developers but improve their approach to their users. Innovation is key in today's technology market and MS needs to show they can still innovate at all business levels.
All of the top 3 are hedge fund money runners.
They are NOT interested in Microsoft's long term health, but in having someone at the top to give their 40%+ return in a year and who the fuck cares what happens after that. If the money runners had their way, Apple would have been liquidated in '98.
That's what these people are all about.
They are not techies. They are Wall Street scum bags.
MS is in the "Cash Cow" phase of its life. It will end. What they need is a 'visionary' who is NOT tied to Wall Street (a la Jobs) but never the less, knows the roots and corporate culture of MS - Gates is the ONLY one who can make the next leader taken seriously.
Pick one.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
If Bill has his focus sharply fixed on the foundation, and that is where he directs all of his energy, then isn't it fair that he not have strong influence on day to day activity in the company.
"Bill, we need to make a call on Skype. 16 Billion dollar's at stake"
"Not now, I'm on a bullock cart touring an Indian Village."
"But Bill, you're the chairman."
"Ah, yes. Let me think about it. Well, I've thought about it. Buy Skype, but then make sure you follow up by buying Nokia."
"Got it Bill. You're the boss."
*click*
Not exactly. Steve Jobs was *the* driving force behind Apple over the last decade or so to the point where the two are almost synonymous. Microsoft, on the other hand, hasn't relied on Bill Gates as the lead visionary and motivator/taskmaster in a long time (and never to the same extent). Jobs was the face of Apple, Gates was/is the face of "don't pick on the nerd, you'll work for his rich ass one day".
I'm certain they want him to step down because they want to focus on short term profits. Investors have no vision, no desire to better the company, no reason to do anything besides focus on short term profits.
It's as simple as that. The 3 hedge fund managers are interested in looting the company's bank account, saddling the company with outrageous debt, and then cutting it up and selling off the pieces. It's the Mitt Romney strategy. Or rather, and more accurately, the standard wall-street tactic. It's why America doesn't make anything anymore, and the greedy bastard 1% fuckers should all be lined up against a wall and executed.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Clippy is actually running the joint.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Except Gates doesn't own enough shares to do that.
He's been steadily selling off his shares for years, and I think he's down to 4.5% or so with the expectation that by 2018 he won't have any.
At which point, if you're a company trying to make long-term plans and possibly fix things, do you want someone with 4.5% of the shares to be able to wield as much power as Bill does?
The whole point of this is that Bill is perceived as being able to control a larger proportion of Microsoft than the number of shares he owns would suggest.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
He is starting to earn a lot of good will, and that will reflect in the price as long as he is attached to the company in a role.
Of course he could step down to CEO; which would be hilarious AND helpfull
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I propose a debate tour: Gates vs. RMS, 10 universities.
This is the new Millennium . . . we don't watch people debate any more.
We lock them up in reality TV shows, and watch them spewing out frivolous drivel for hours on end, before voting on who we dislike the most.
Gates vs. RMS? I think one of the Kardashians would win that one. Even if they aren't on the show.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Try to be serious. Gates ran the company. Nobody who has ever read "The Road Ahead" would ever describe Gates as a visionary. We are talking about the guy who said that the Internet was just a fad. His only great insight was that there was a huge pool of people who knew little to nothing about computers whom he could potentially exploit if he simply modeled his company after an organized crime syndicate.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Someone with an ID that low probably isn't all that young. I created this one 13 years ago.
It takes a visionary painter to invent selling paintings. People will give Gates credit for a lot of things he does not deserve, and I am not one of those. But he did pretty much invent the commercial software market, for good or ill.
Help stamp out iliturcy.