Steve Ballmer

It just wouldn't have believe that, right? I mean, you can't come in and say, well, I've been a certain way for about 35 years, or 30 years, but I'm a, hey, I'm a new man.

If you're a spender.

If you're a spender.

If you're a spender, you're a spender. If you're not good with investors, they're not going to buy in overnight that you've changed. There's a certain, and I didn't intend it that way, but there's a certain disrespect by not going to quarterly calls with hindsight. People aren't going to say, oh, he's showing up. He's a changed man.

If you're a spender, you're a spender. If you're not good with investors, they're not going to buy in overnight that you've changed. There's a certain, and I didn't intend it that way, but there's a certain disrespect by not going to quarterly calls with hindsight. People aren't going to say, oh, he's showing up. He's a changed man.

He used to tell us the stock price was too high or worry about it. Now he's going to tell us, no, the stock should be okay. It should be higher. No, there was no way to reset the investor view of me. You need a full rebrand, full clean slate.

He used to tell us the stock price was too high or worry about it. Now he's going to tell us, no, the stock should be okay. It should be higher. No, there was no way to reset the investor view of me. You need a full rebrand, full clean slate.

I mean, when I wrote my letter of sort of goodbye to the board, I did say, hey, look, this is a unique opportunity. There's a lot of things in our brand, in our image that would only be able to be reset by a new CEO, by having a new CEO. Because people don't walk in and say, oh, yeah, guys are changing. So it's hard to change the narrative without the change.

I mean, when I wrote my letter of sort of goodbye to the board, I did say, hey, look, this is a unique opportunity. There's a lot of things in our brand, in our image that would only be able to be reset by a new CEO, by having a new CEO. Because people don't walk in and say, oh, yeah, guys are changing. So it's hard to change the narrative without the change.

Now, I'm not saying that means CEOs should go every time there's a bad narrative. That's not really my point. But it just gets harder, particularly since I'd been, I may have only been CEO since 2000, but it's not like I wasn't there since 1980. Yeah, I was there since 1980. And essentially, I'd been the second voice of the company for 20 years. And then for 14, I was the first voice.

Now, I'm not saying that means CEOs should go every time there's a bad narrative. That's not really my point. But it just gets harder, particularly since I'd been, I may have only been CEO since 2000, but it's not like I wasn't there since 1980. Yeah, I was there since 1980. And essentially, I'd been the second voice of the company for 20 years. And then for 14, I was the first voice.

Theoretically.

Theoretically.

Look, the toughest time was probably the ship of Vista. Yeah. That was probably the toughest time. That and the early 2000s Uh, when I took over on my little, my little sheet here, I highlight that 98 to 2004 were kind of tough years plus X-Box. Because that's the antitrust. That's where I moved back to be president of the company and then CEO.

Look, the toughest time was probably the ship of Vista. Yeah. That was probably the toughest time. That and the early 2000s Uh, when I took over on my little, my little sheet here, I highlight that 98 to 2004 were kind of tough years plus X-Box. Because that's the antitrust. That's where I moved back to be president of the company and then CEO.

And Bill and I went through a year where we didn't speak. Really? Yeah. I think it was basically from sometime in about March or April of 2000 to 2001. I mean, literally we weren't speaking. I didn't know what it meant to be his boss and he didn't know what it meant to work for me. You know, when he asked me to be CEO, I said to him, look, and I knew he was struggling with the DOJ and all this.

And Bill and I went through a year where we didn't speak. Really? Yeah. I think it was basically from sometime in about March or April of 2000 to 2001. I mean, literally we weren't speaking. I didn't know what it meant to be his boss and he didn't know what it meant to work for me. You know, when he asked me to be CEO, I said to him, look, and I knew he was struggling with the DOJ and all this.

I said, do you really want me to be CEO? Or do you just want me to be a figurehead? And he said, no, I want you to be real CEO. That meant something to me. I would probably have said yes, even if he'd said, be a figurehead. But he said what he wanted and probably him saying to himself, hey, I've got to have a transition path. So I said, okay, I'll do that.

I said, do you really want me to be CEO? Or do you just want me to be a figurehead? And he said, no, I want you to be real CEO. That meant something to me. I would probably have said yes, even if he'd said, be a figurehead. But he said what he wanted and probably him saying to himself, hey, I've got to have a transition path. So I said, okay, I'll do that.

Well, he didn't know how to show me a different kind of respect. I didn't know how to show him a different kind of respect. There were things that I thought, you know, where I just disagreed with him and now I expected it to go the other way. I was always happy. I was happy being a number two guy. I was fine. Salute. I don't like the decision.