Bill Gates Relinquishing Microsoft Helm On June 27
“Bill Gates veered his childhood fascination with computer code into a Microsoft software empire that altered the entire culture around the world, and now the era ends’.”
San Francisco – Whether you like his personality or not, his bequest is astounding not only in size but in value too. Bill Gates, the man who started the home computer age is finally stepping down from the management of Microsoft, the software giant he founded 33 years ago.
The move appeared after a newsletter announced the phasing out of Gate’s duties over a two-year period back in 2006. He will now be paying complete attention to his charity and philanthropy efforts in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates will call it a day on 27 June 2008 to focus on philanthropy but will continue to work one day a week and serve as board chairman.
Since Gate’s began his transition from leading Microsoft to heading his personally-bankrolled charity, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, his job as chief software architect has been handled by Ray Ozzie.
Craig Mundie inherited Gate’s chief research and strategy officer duties, while former Harvard classmate Steve Ballmer became chief executive officer at the Seattle-based software colossus.
The decision puts the company firmly in the hands of chief executive Steve Ballmer, who says he will be around for another 10 years.
Ballmer is convinced that he can steer the company without Gates. “I’m not going to need him for anything. That is the principle,” Ballmer told the Wall Street Journal. “Use him, yes, need him, no.”
The lengthy business association between the pair has had its ups and downs; including a clash eight years ago after Gates had relinquished the chief executive’s role in favor of Ballmer.
Gates left Harvard after two years to found the firm that became global powerhouse Microsoft. He later received honorary degrees from Harvard and other universities.
After retiring, Gates will remain chairman of the Microsoft board of directors and its largest shareholder.
“I do not think anything is going to drastically change the day he leaves,” said Matt Rosoff of the private analyst firm Directions On Microsoft.
“If he thinks something is important and tells Steve Ballmer, Ballmer will listen to him.”
Still, Gates’s bespectacled geeky countenance is an integral part of Microsoft’s image and his departure is symbolic, according to analysts.
“The challenge Microsoft has when the founder departs is remembering its heart,” said analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
“At some point the firm has to take the essence of what made Bill Gates successful and make sure that is preserved. Whether it is a company or a person, once you have lost your heart there is not much left but a shell.”
Microsoft’s market capitalization is just over half the yearly Gross Domestic Product of South Africa. It is a phenomenally influential company in the tech world with its decisions affecting hardware-manufacturing decisions around the world from Seattle to Tokyo.
Its operating systems have been the training and breeding ground for many a computer junky even if more and more of them nowadays start jumping ship to the Linux side of life.
“You could see Microsoft struggling after Bill Gates stepped out of day-to-day roles,” Enderle said.
“A founder takes such a larger-than-life role and directs a company in very subtle ways that are often forgotten when a founder leaves. That gap, for a lot of companies, has been almost terminal.”
Gates, 52, steps down officially on Friday from the company he and childhood friend Paul Allen started in a garage in 1975.
Have nice rest Bill!