Steve Ballmer – American businessperson
Steve Anthony Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) is an American businessperson. He has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. Ballmer is 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. In Forbes 2008 World’s Richest People ranking, Ballmer was ranked the 43rd richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion.
Steve Ballmer has been known to be very passionate in expressing his enthusiasm. When Microsoft celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2000, Ballmer popped out of the anniversary cake to surprise the audience. His wild screaming and dancing on stage at an employees convention was caught on a widely-circulated video known as “Steve Ballmer going crazy.” A few days later at a developers’ conference, a sweat-soaked Ballmer repeatedly chanted “developers” in front of the bemused gathering.
Family
On October 4, 2007, Ballmer was awarded honorary citizenship of Lausen, Switzerland. His father had worked in that country as a manager at Ford Motor Co in the late 1940s. In 1990 Ballmer married Connie Snyder, on Microsoft’s PR team at the Waggener Group in the ’80s. They have three children. Ballmer’s grandfather lives in Minsk, Belarus.
Career
Pre-Microsoft & Life History
Steve Ballmer was born March 24, 1956, to a Swiss father and a Jewish-American mother whose family came from the Eastern European city of Pinsk (today in Belarus). He grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 1973, he graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a high school, and now sits on its board of directors. In 1977, he graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics. While in 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, the current CEO of General Electric. In 1980, he dropped out from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Microsoft career
Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980., and became Microsoft’s 24th employee, the first business manager hired by Gates. He was initially offered a salary of $50,000 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. 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. The same year, Ballmer replaced Microsoft’s employee stock options program, which had been instrumental in making early employees millionaires.
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