RU Sitting Down? Bill Gates to Leave Microsoft in 2008

[Vin DSL]

Source: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13349299/

Bill Gates on Thursday announced his intention to leave his full-time role at Microsoft, drawing the curtain on a controversial business career that more than any other shaped the first half century of the information age and turned him into the world's richest man.

Mr Gates, a Harvard drop-out who founded Microsoft along with Paul Allen more than 30 years ago, said he would switch his full-time attention to philanthropy, continuing the work on global health and education that has come to increasingly absorb his time in recent years.

The Microsoft chairman will step down completely in July 2008. However, he will hand over his responsibility for its software strategy immediately and will reduce his involvement in the company progressively during the two-year transition period.

[Ron]

"controversial busniess career?"

[Connie]

I think the key here is "full time".

[lokki]

Gates is arguably the most successful capitalist ever. You don't get that title without stirring stuff up, for better or worse.

[Connie]

He can afford to retire, whatever that means.

[BernardBlack]

He's rich... if I were him, just lay back when you hit 1 billion... game 24/7 O.O

[Vin DSL]

I think this is great! It keeps one humble, no?

I mean, if someone can fire Bill Gates, there's hope after all!

Here's the *new* line-up:

Here's how Microsoft is shifting around its technology leadership. [Ray] Ozzie takes over the chief architect job immediately, but continues to report to [Bill] Gates for the first year of the transition. He's in charge of the technology vision of the company and responsible for keeping all of the product groups aligned. Craig Mundie, a longtime Microsoft executive, is taking charge of the company's intellectual property policy decisions and Microsoft Research, which does basic scientific research. Both men will begin to report directly to [Steve] Ballmer starting a year from now, though Gates will continue to sit in on meetings.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...616_493563.htm

[BernardBlack]

But doesn't Bill Gates OWN Mircrosoft, how can he get fired from something he owns? Lol.

[rainboy]

You only own a company if you have all the shares (or a majority of shares) in your hands, a company like Microsoft is so large i doubt that Bill got a majority of shares in his hands (more as 50%). Isnt that the way it works nowadays with every company going and sell its soul to investors ?

[jason]

Its actually not uncommon for company founders to be fired. If the company is publically traded or if it is "privately owned" but has multiple investors, every person with a money invested in the company is part-owner and for every share you own, you have 1 vote in the company's business decissions. If enough shareholders don't like a business' leader, he can be fired, regardless of whether he started the company or not. It happens every day in capitalism.

--Jason

[Gwaihir]

But who says he got fired?

[rainboy]

Not the article thats for sure, but this is atleast strange..

he will hand over his responsibility for its software strategy immediately

But then, it could also be just a decision planned months ago Who knows besides uncle bill

[Vin DSL]

But who says he got fired?

I know you foreigners don't understand the way it works in America, but you don't just *fire* someone like Bill Gates, per se. You have to be more diplomatic about it!

For instance, when Ford *fired* Lee Iaccoca, they took away his limousine, chauffeur, private chef, and so forth, and assigned him to run an empty factory overlooking the rat-infested St. Louis River. Shortly afterwards, he decided to resign his position at Ford, in order to resurrect Chrysler Corp -- a Ford competitor. Read between the lines!

The way you can tell if a 'big shot' in America has been fired is when it's announced that Joe Blow is giving up his/her career to "spend more time with their family" (which they've spent their whole life avoiding) -- devote more time to their "writing career", et cetera. Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, would be a good example of this...

In Bill Gates case, he has decided to 'step down' voluntarily in order to save the world -- please!?!?!

Bill Gates has been fired -- it's got ALL the ear-markings! Believe it!

[Gwaihir]

Ok; point taken. From the statements made earlier this week, there's no way for us to tell whether he was pushed into this or actually wanted it this way. Actually, we do have that habit here too. It's quite common to give a big shot a few very clear (but generally non-public) signs that he'd best leave, before actually going ahead and firing him.

I guess I'm just not as single minded about that as Vin. Unless I hear other indications that there actually were serious troubles, I usually assume the guy (m/f) was ready for a change of pace and / or scenery, rather than coerced into it. With Collin and Iaccoca these indications speak for themselves, but in this MS matter: what signs do we have? I may simply have missed them, as I don't follow MS much, but so far this is 'out of the blue' for me.

[mattsiegman]

Given the amount of money Bill has donated to charity, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually was his idea. He did give them something like 50 BILLION dollars.