Steven Ballmer, who announced his resignation from Microsoft Board in February, is finally stepping down as a member of the Microsoft board of directors after 14 years. Steve Ballmer was the company’s CEO before stepping down in order to give Satya Nadella the job.
Since the announcement, Ballmer has limited his activities related to Microsoft but still managed to feature prominently in headlines following his purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers. The 2 billion dollar deal finally put an end to the messy Donald Sterling fiasco which saw him banned for life from the NBA.
In his farewell letter, Steve Ballmer wrote,
Given my confidence and the multitude of new commitments I am taking on now, I think it would be impractical for me to continue to serve on the board, and it is best for me to move off. The fall will be hectic between teaching a new class and the start of the NBA season so my departure from the board is effective immediately. I bleed Microsoft — have for 34 years and I always will.
Before leaving the board of directors, Ballmer said that Microsoft has some big and bold decisions to make in order to succeed and compete with its rivals in the market. It was said that Satya Nadella’s focus is on the mobile and cloud sector which represents a complete 180 when compared to Microsoft’s focus during the Steve Ballmer era.
A lot of people have suggested that even though Steve Ballmer had already announced his resignation, his presence in the board was creating some hurdles for the new CEO. According to some Microsoft insiders, Ballmer didn’t support many of the decisions Satya Nadella’s made.
Ballmer still holds more shares of Microsoft than anyone else (not including indexed funds) and has stated that he will continue to keep his shares in the company for as long as he can. It means that Ballmer will be putting his experience into his basketball team while staying connected with Microsoft.
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