Steve Ballmer quits Microsoft board

Steven A Ballmer's era at Microsoft has come to a full stop. Ballmer, the company's former chief executive, resigned on Tuesday as a member of Microsoft's board, his primary remaining affiliation with the company after leaving the top job in February.

Ballmer said in a resignation letter on Microsoft's website that a combination of new responsibilities, including his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, made him too busy to serve on the board. He also said he was pleased with the direction that Microsoft was taking under its new chief executive, Satya Nadella, to whom the letter was addressed.

"Given my confidence and the multitude of new commitments I am taking on now, I think it would be impractical for me to continue to serve on the board, and it is best for me to move off," Ballmer wrote in his letter. "The fall will be hectic between teaching a new class and the start of the NBA season, so my departure from the board is effective immediately."

Ballmer's departure from the board was expected by many people inside and outside the company after he was pressured by the board last year to speed up his retirement from Microsoft. His $2-billion purchase of the Clippers, a record deal for an NBA team that was completed last week, gave Ballmer a new focus for his attention.

It was unclear on Tuesday when Ballmer decided to leave the board. Whatever the timing, Ballmer, 58, made it clear in a Clippers news conference in Los Angeles on Monday that he planned to be an involved team owner.

As he prowled a stage next to Clippers players, Ballmer gave out his team email address to fans and told them that he liked to be called Steve, rather than Ballmer.

Many people had predicted that Ballmer would leave the board, partly because Nadella is faced with the challenge of reinvigorating the company, which could involve unwinding some of Ballmer's earlier decisions. Nadella, who also serves on Microsoft's board, has already made bolder moves than Ballmer to create services for devices made by Microsoft's competitors, like the iPad from Apple.

In May, Nadella struck a partnership with Salesforce.com, run by Marc Benioff, with whom Ballmer had a frosty relationship.

Under the leadership of Ballmer, who became chief executive in 2000, Microsoft had solid growth in profits and revenue. But it fumbled a number of important initiatives in mobile and internet search, disappointing investors.

With Ballmer gone and the recent addition of new directors, Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura Securities, predicted that the dynamics of the Microsoft board could change meaningfully in the near future.

"This was a board that took a lot of direction from Steve Ballmer for quite a few years," said Sherlund, who was among those who had predicted Ballmer would leave.

Ballmer worked at Microsoft for 34 years, joining the company at the invitation of his former Harvard classmate, Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. The company's success as the dominant software company of the personal computer era turned Ballmer into a billionaire.

Ballmer remains Microsoft's largest individual shareholder outside of big investment funds. His shares amount to 3.99 per cent of the company and are worth more than $15 billion.

Those holdings exceed even those of Gates, who has consistently sold shares over the years. In his letter, Ballmer said he expected to hold his shares "for the foreseeable future."

"As you embark on your new journey, I am sure that you will bring the same boldness, passion and impact to your new endeavours that you brought to Microsoft, and we wish you incredible success," Nadella wrote in a letter in response. "I also look forward to partnering with you as a shareholder."

©2014 The New York Times News Service