Top Microsoft Corp. investors are pushing the board of directors to have Bill Gates step down as chairman, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. Gates cofounded Microsoft in 1975 and is currently helping the company find a replacement for outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer.
The report claims three of the top 20 Microsoft Corp. investors, who collectively hold more than 5 percent of the company's stock, are leading the effort, though these parties were not named. Gates owns around 4.5 percent of the company and is its largest individual shareholder.
It is not clear if Microsoft's board would listen to the wishes of the three investors. A Microsoft Corp. representative declined to comment when approached by Reuters.
"The three investors are concerned that Gates' role as chairman effectively blocks the adoption of new strategies and would limit the power of a new chief executive to make substantial changes," the Reuters report states. "In particular, they point to Gates' role on the special committee searching for Ballmer's successor."
The sources also said that they are worried that Gates "wields power out of proportion to his declining shareholding." Gates spends most of his time on his philanthropic endeavors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Reuters said.
According to the report, Gates sells about 80 million shares per year as part of a pre-set plan. If continued, he would have no financial stake in Microsoft Corp. by 2018.
Ballmer announced in August that he would retire within the next year.Ford CEO Alan Mulally is reportedly a top candidate to replace him.
Discussion
I'd consider Gates to be one of the nicest people in the 1%. I mean, DEMANDING your taxes be raised because the lower classes are being shafted and he can afford the raise? That takes some brass. As much as I think he shouldn't retire, he deserves the rest. He's done a lot.
Get outta here with your philanthropic generosity!! We're here for the fat stacks, Mr. Gates!
I'm not entirely sure how much this would change; in fact, this just sounds like the three shareholders have a grudge against the guy. As long as Gates isn't harming the company, let him stay in as long as he wants to. His tenure as the father of modern computing should at least afford him that.
Translates to: "You're pretty money hungry, but we're more money hungry and your decisions aren't fucking the common man enough and filling our pockets."
its like firing steve jobs R.I.P
or albert Eisenstein (rip)... Or Dr. Hawkings
investors been doing too much grade A meth.
that three guys are assholes!
"You have founded Microsoft and changed the computer forever. Now get out"
great....
Bill Gates has slowly become an out of touch weirdo. Ive read multiple stories of his "pet" projects and the strain they cause Microsoft as a company.
First of all Gates pushing of his "common core" education standards completely turned me off to him. Its frightening "new age" bull crap that puts emphasis on the worship of government and teaches kids how to manipulate instead of learning. Its scary stuff.
Second, we have all seen the debacle Microsoft has been recently. The XBone rollout could not have gone worse. I have to believe Gates is not providing the leadership he once did and people highly invested in the company see the need to make a change.
Gates was already slowly divesting himself from the company, drawing it out probably just delays the move forward.
unsurprising no-brainer as far as business goes, technologically, maybe even contractually. still i'd feel so weird just being an "outsider" trying to push out the founder. a philanthropist even, me and my bleeding heart.
Give me a break. I would kindly tell those investor to go fu*k themselves. Bill will leave when he is good and ready and not before then.
Why won't they name these 3 investors who want Gates to step down?
The public wishes to know who these greedy sharks are.
The only person who can fire Bill Gates is Bill Gates, right? He will go out on his own terms and has earned that right. Only thing I take from the investors is they are rich greedy dudes who only want to get richer and who obviously think they are entitled. Man am I glad I will never be like that.
it is sad you worked your whole life to build your company and new generation want you out because they don't like your vision.
We'll, I guess it is time for him to leave. He gave us a lot and I'm thankful, now we can unit on Google for innovation.
ouch. tough decision. keep your tech visionary, or wipe the slate clean and focus on the company's business strategies. they need both.
Oh, I forgot!
In response to this quote: "wields power out of proportion to his declining shareholding.". How about letting the one visionary who got them there reign in trust a little longer? I know, that idea is just crazy!
So, those almost in charge want the one person not hindered by utter greed to step down? And that is a good idea how?
Rest of MS stock holders should also do the same thing. Request these 3 board of directors to step down because someone with 10 Microsoft stocks should also be running as one of board of directors. I mean, of course the person who owns the most stock should be the chairman. Don't like it? Then, buy more stock from Bill Gates instead of being cheap.
A sad news about a great man in business!
I love Gates. but this is not personal, this is business. Why are Gamespot articles always inflammatory?
gates, ballmer and kinect gone forever = win for everyone.
Article title should be changed to Assholes want to kick Bill Gates out of his own company
Even one of the richest dudes in the world got problems, so next time your granny tells you to clean your room before playing Halo you better listen.
Some things just can't be ran by a committee. You need a strong leader, a visionary, someone that might ruffle some feathers but gets stuff done. members of a committee voting Gates out? sounds like a perfect example of what's wrong with MS right now.
I can't stand when somebody starts up a company, it becomes hella successful, then the board wants to throw out the guy that started everything. If it wasn't for Gates, none of those over privileged bastards would have these 6 & 7 figure jobs.
Greedy bastards. "lets kick out the guy who started this whole thing"
Regardless of what you think the guy has donated millions of dollars to charities and saved just as many lives
@BradBurns haha. Bitch!
@vadagar1 Jobs, Hawkings, cool. Einstein? FUCK HIM............or was it Edison? I forgot which I was supposed to hate. Or both?
@vadagar1
Except Steve Jobs was an asshole who pretty much said "Fuck helping people" and completely cut all of philanthropic programs because...ya know....gotta make as much money as possible re-re-releasing the same phones and tablets for 500$ and up.
@Alecmrhand
Gates hasn't had anything to do with their gaming division in almost 10 years.....He actually stepped down a long time ago and just collects money from the company he created.
@Kickable And how exactly is it a no brainer as far as business, technologically and contractually?
@tightwad34 Just look at what happened to Steve Jobs when he was fired at Apple. Bill isnt the only one that can fire Bill but you need a LOT more than just 3 investors.
Count, not unit.
@LawrencevanrijnOh so you were referring to the late Gary Kildall of Digital Research then, how polite of you to remind all of us where DOS came from and where Gates stole most of his ideas from.
@buccomatic Ballmer already gone, Gates may follow, may not. But kinect is unfortunately here to stay, unless a greater majority of people boycott the PISS out of xbox done. I don't see this happening as people are apparently going GAHGAH for the now revamped xbox done? I mean I don't know if that number is bullshit or not but Micro$hits is completely proud of that accomplishment despite it's horrible problem of potential spyware. As for gates, I have no opinion at all. I've heard both sides of the coin and frankly I don't give enough of a damn to care about Gates.
@Tekarukite"A camel is a horse designed by a committee"
- I forget the source
@Tekarukite Theres plenty wrong with Micro$hits, but this committee doesn't sound like it has MS's best interests in mind...
@Vodoo Yes, they probably would. They are investors. They had to have money to get invested to begin with.
@blind59 Try billions, with a B.
@blind59 he only does that for taxes
@blind59
rich people donate to charity to avoid taxes so,
yah.
@blind59 That's exactly why the higher ups want to get rid of him , they cant rule the world with a person like him on their shoulders.
@RighteousWoman @Kickable because like many other businesses they want someone more involved with the day to day development of the company, tech advancement and may even be able to show the board that the investors' higher stake should be considered over Gates increasingly lower stake. though I have no clue what's in his contract, it might not be that simple.
@uncle5555 @LawrencevanrijnUnfortunately, that was CP/M and PC/DOS. That was IBM in the end. In addition MS-DOS was a look alike due to Tim Paterson. It was compatible (to some degree) but differed as it was needed for the 8086 architecture, so in my mind, your statement falls short. There are issues between IBM and Kildall, which is fair enough. In the end a hard business game was played and there are issues on the advice by DRI attorney Gerry Davis which is (regarding whether it was the right thing to do) in part the reason Kildall missed out on a fortune. By the way, Kildall was really good (hs CP/M is evidence), But Paterson was utterly brilliant! This I know as I dealt with Falcon once in 1983/1984.
@twisted_outlaw @Vodoo The problem is, it's irrelevant how rich they are investor or not. It should be a damn crime to chase someone out of his own company even if he's selling off his shares on a yearly basis. Although I really don't understand that part of it... Gates is rich enough but I don't really care enough to want to care :P.
@buccomatic @blind59 @Mega_Loser_2 Actually, he's giving away 95% of his wealth to charity. That's a tad bit more than necessary if he wanted to avoid taxes.
@Mega_Loser_2
Not all rich people are greedy snobs.
@xeoneex66
The chances of finding the financial reports of his charity work is MUCH higher than finding out if he does it for taxes. Do you even know what a philanthropist is? Thought so.
@xeoneex66 @buccomatic @blind59 @Mega_Loser_2 Kinda easy to find, but ok.
Now feel free to ask @buccomatic where he gets his info from...
@Daemoroth @buccomatic @blind59 @Mega_Loser_2 Where did you get this info?