His chart comparing Microsoft’s stock price under Bill Gates vs. Ballmer is devastating. How much longer can Ballmer last? Is the problem that Gates doesn’t want to return? That Gates doesn’t want to concede that it was a terrible error to hand the company to Ballmer? That he doesn’t want to fire his friend?
I have a theory: It’s not that Gates is afraid to fire his old friend. I think he expected Microsoft to falter after he left. I think that’s why he left in the first place. He saw the writing on the wall.
Microsoft hasn’t had a successful product since Office. That’s a long time, and a long list of products, including every version of the mobile OS, the XBox (sells well, but still loses money, many years after introduction), Search (Now called Bing, but also known as about ten other names prior to that), PlaysForSure, Zune, and on and on. Many of those products debuted under Gates.
It’s not like Bill Gates ever REALLY cared about the quality of the products, anyway. He was in it for the money, and to get back at all the bullies in high school who beat him up relentlessly when he was a kid. If he had stuck it out at Microsoft, or if he were to return now, Microsoft would be HIS failure. As it stands now, he looks like the heroic founder who made the company great, and the blame for Microsoft’s downfall all lands on Ballmer, which is nice and convenient for Bill.
I’m not saying Ballmer is a great CEO who was handed an impossible mission. Ballmer has always gone along for the free ride, and has never had any real talent. So I don’t feel sorry for him in the least. But I do think of Gates as a business man first, and a technology guru second. And thus I believe he made the last good business move of his life by retiring when Microsoft had passed its prime—especially since very few recognized that Microsoft was on its way out back then.
Gates’ greatest “vision” was seeing that keeping a giant monopoly like Microsoft alive much longer would have been more trouble than it was worth. How much easier was it to turn his legacy into “the generous philanthropist” that everyone admires? Money can’t buy happiness, maybe, but it can buy reputation and legacy.
Not to downplay the man’s generosity, because he is helping some great causes. But let’s not be naive. The man had PR problems, and they’ve all disappeared now.
