It doesn't look like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plans to step down from his position any time soon. Why? Because he said so. Ballmer made his plans well known back in 2008, admitting during a public speech that he won't go into retirement until after his youngest kid sets sail for college. Little did anyone know that Ballmer already revealed his retirement plans to other Microsoft executives even before his public revelation.
Business Insider is calling "exclusive" on insider information that claims Ballmer informed other Microsoft execs of his retirement plans way back in 2008 -- just before his public speech -- during a company retreat. According to the source, Ballmer specifically said retirement wouldn't happen until around 2017 or 2018 after his youngest heads off to college. Until then, he wasn’t going anywhere.
Now three years later, Ballmer has weathered the storm of low sales that took place in 2008 and 2009, and let slide calls from investors to step down. He also still has Bill Gates by his side who coincidentally is the chairman of the board. Gates said he'll never ask Ballmer to leave, and even gives advice when Ballmer approaches with questions about executive appointments, evaluating good technical product leaders, acquisitions and more.
"This person is a fan of Ballmer, and says that his passion, integrity, and business sense are excellent ," Business Insider reports, referring to the unnamed source. "He really knows in detail the performance of every product group and sales team in the company, and his enthusiasm really is like that in private, too. But this person also worries that Ballmer lacks the vision to figure out which business areas to bet on for the long term."
So there you have it: Ballmer will likely stick around as Microsoft CEO until at least 2018. That means we'll have around six more years of flying fists and crazy, over-the-top antics to keep us both amused and informed until his eventual departure. Still, Microsoft without Ballmer would be like McDonald's without Ronald... it just wouldn't be the same.
