Since then, Ballmer's leadership and passion have become hallmarks of his tenure at the company. He became Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft in 2000 (the first CEO to succeed company founder and figurehead Bill Gates) and retired from the office on February 4, 2014.
Ballmer owes his wealth to joining Microsoft in 1980 as an assistant to the president — a role more akin to a business manager than a PA. He originally agreed to a $50,000 base salary plus 10% of the profit growth he generated.
2014–2020: Windows 10, Microsoft Edge, and HoloLens. Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as the CEO of Microsoft in February 2014. On February 4, 2014, Steve Ballmer stepped down as CEO of Microsoft and was succeeded by Satya Nadella, who previously led Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise division.
Inspired by the January cover of Popular Electronics magazine, friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft – sometimes Micro-Soft, for microprocessors and software – to develop software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer.
On June 27, 2008, Gates transitioned out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He served as Microsoft's chairman of the board until February 4, 2014.
Microsoft's Former CEO Says Disagreement With Gates on Smartphones Drove Them Apart
Does Bill Gates own $100 of Microsoft?
Bill Gates still owns more than 1% of Microsoft's shares, worth more than $40 billion as of August 2024. A lot of his financial investments are held by a family office known as Cascade Investments. Gates also has substantial real estate holdings and an extensive collection of collectibles.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is the richest person and the richest man in the world with a net worth of $269 billion. After Musk is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.
In 2014, Ballmer left Microsoft with about a 4% stake worth $22.5 billion, according to Forbes. At the time, he said that he was holding on to his shares for the long term, Forbes reported. “I'd like to own Microsoft shares until I either give something to charity or I die,” he told the outlet.
Satya Narayana Nadella (/nəˈdɛlə/; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-born American business executive who is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman.
Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft's culture during his decade as CEO by turning everyone into 'learn-it-alls' instead of 'know-it-alls' Satya Nadella has made Microsoft 10 times more valuable in his decade as CEO.
Microsoft is a publicly traded company, so it's owned by the shareholders who own its stock. The largest shareholders are asset management companies and individuals, including: Vanguard Group, which owns 8.6% of the company.
Microsoft's top executives saw their total pay packages fall from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023 – though they still made out quite well. CEO Satya Nadella topped the list with about $48.5 million in total compensation, according to regulatory filings.
What percentage of Microsoft did Steve Ballmer own?
Microsoft's current CEO, Satya Nadella, is the top individual MSFT shareholder, owning 0.01% of the company's stock in 2024, according to the most recent SEC disclosure. Former CEO Steve Ballmer presumably still owns a 4% stake in Microsoft, more than its founder Bill Gates, who holds a 1.3% stake.
A trillionaire is an individual with a net worth equal to at least one trillion in U.S. dollars or a similarly valued currency, such as the euro or the British pound. Currently, no one has yet claimed trillionaire status, although some of the world's richest individuals may only be a few years away from this milestone.
The world's youngest billionaire is 19-year-old Livia Voigt, who is still in university. The Brazilian teenager is worth around US$1.1 billion as a result of her minority stake in the electrical equipment company WEG, co-founded by her late grandfather.
In June 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his role at Microsoft to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He gradually divided his responsibilities between two successors when he placed Ray Ozzie in charge of management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy.
What Happened: Gates stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft in 2000 and later left the board of directors in 2020. The co-founder of the software giant remains a large shareholder in the company through his own holdings and the stock holdings of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
Steve Ballmer became Microsoft's second CEO, succeeding Bill Gates, who hired him in 1980 as the company's first business manager. Soon after, Ballmer helped land a major deal with IBM to provide the operating system for its computers.
Bill Gates retired at 50. He and Melinda were giving huge sums, much higher than the usual money raised by a ball, and when they raised it, they raised it in huge sums, such as Warren Buffett gave them. They headed out and talked to people in charge in the places they wanted to spend it.
