Bill Gates Facing Shareholder Calls for His Retirement: 10 Reasons Why:

Bill Gates Facing Shareholder Calls for His Retirement: 10 Reasons Why

 

 

By Don Reisinger  |  Posted 2013-10-03  Email  Print

 

 

 

 

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Three top Microsoft shareholders are agitating for the company board of directors to call for founder Bill Gates to step down as chairman, according to news reports. Apparently these shareholders were not content with CEO Steve Ballmer's decision to retire and want to make a clean sweep of the old guard that has run the company for decades. But perhaps there is much more to the story than trying to put in new senior management committed to taking Microsoft in a new direction. Gates has had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Microsoft shareholders over the years. And to these few shareholders, who reportedly hold more than 5 percent of the company stock, he's a barrier to the changes they want to make. To such investors, what Microsoft has done in the past or the potential of its current technology strategy might mean less than the total value of its current assets. Such investors tend to believe they have a better idea for "maximizing shareholder value." Microsoft, a 38-year-old company, is no longer unshakably dominant in its markets. Cloud computing and mobile technology present strong challenges to its operating system and enterprise application products. This slide show looks at 10 reasons why Gates will have to contend with this shareholder challenge to his place at the top.

 

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• The Old Guard Is On the Way Out

  When Microsoft lost Ray Ozzie and after Ballmer announced he'd be moving on, something became immediately clear in Redmond: The Old Guard is on its way out. Through attrition, retirements or simply old age, quite a few of Microsoft's most important people over the years have moved on. Now a few shareholders want to push Gates out of the company he founded 38 years ago.
  

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- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/slideshows/bill-gates-facing-shareholder-calls-for-his-retirement-10-reasons-why.html/?kc=EWKNLCSM10082013STR1&dni=82446821&rni=25787674#sthash.Sqk5JBAq.dpuf