So the news came down today that Steve Ballmer is retiring from Microsoft within the next year. And within moments of that news getting out, Microsoft’s stock rose nearly ten percent, coming close to its highest level in a year. That must be a real ego boost for Mr. Ballmer (although from all apparent signs, his ego is quite healthy, thank you).
The departure (and its aftermath) raises some interesting questions about where Microsoft has been and where it’s going, and about the tech industry as a whole.
First, a data point: Ballmer’s departure announcement was covered as an urgent, breaking-news story by financial publications (e.g., Wall Street Journal) and by general-news publications (e.g., New York Times). Some of that is probably expected, given the size and scope of Microsoft as a company, but I suspect that if the head of Nestle decided to step down over the next year, there would be articles but not breathless and speculative reportage. Clearly there’s something about Microsoft and about Ballmer that rates more amped-up coverage.
Most notably, the departure was also covered in a similarly urgent manner by Variety, a trade publication for the entertainment industry. And this is where we start to see one of the impacts of Ballmer’s tenure as head of Microsoft, and, really, of Steve Jobs’ leadership a decade ago: the worlds of tech and entertainment are separate no more.
Through his embrace of the creative community (and his extreme leveraging of it through interrelationships between Apple, Pixar, and others), Jobs educated both camps about the value of partnering with the other. But Ballmer oversaw some significant motion there, too. MSNBC, the Xbox (and subsequent iterations), and the various music initiatives (Zune, anyone? Anyone?) all had thumbprints from Ballmer on them.
His tenure at Microsoft was rocky, to be sure, and his on-stage performances that were once likened to a “humanized baboon” remain of legend. But Ballmer’s stewardship of Microsoft has resulted in some pretty great stuff, too. So maybe the tech community could keep the gleefulness down to a dull roar?