Steve Ballmer
| Steve Ballmer | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Microsoft |
| Role: | Former CEO |
| Location: | Seattle, Wash. |
| Education: | Harvard University |
As of 2016, Steve Ballmer was the former CEO of Microsoft and the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the city's two professional basketball teams. Ballmer and his wife, Connie Ballmer, also operated The Ballmer Group, which gave to charities concerned with at-risk youth.[1]
Career
Microsoft
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Ballmer attended Harvard University, where he met future Microsoft founder and CEO Bill Gates. Ballmer eventually dropped out of business school at Stanford to begin working at Microsoft, where he became CEO in 2000 after Gates stepped down. Ballmer retired in 2014.[2]
According to Vanity Fair, writing near the end of Ballmer's time as CEO, Microsoft became "high-tech equivalent of a Detroit car-maker, bringing flashier models of the same old thing off of the assembly line even as its competitors upended the world. Most of its innovations have been financial debacles or of little consequence to the bottom line."[3] Fast Company, by contrast, noted that Ballmer's time as the company's CEO was also a time of rapid growth in profit, when Ballmer "tripled annual revenue since taking over in 2000, from $23 billion to nearly $78 billion, and goosed net income to $21.8 billion."[4]
Los Angeles Clippers
In 2014, after stepping down from Microsoft and leaving the organization's board, Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the city's two NBA franchises, for $2 billion.[5] Shortly after the sale, Ballmer explained the price he paid for the team, saying, "It’s not a cheap price, but when you’re used to looking at tech companies with huge risk, no earnings and huge multiples, this doesn’t look like the craziest thing I’ve ever acquired. ... And compared to some of the public traded companies, there are great companies out there like Amazon with absolutely no earnings and a huge market caps and lots of risk. There’s much less risk. There’s real earnings in this business."[6]
Philanthropy
Speaking with Business Insider in February 2016, Ballmer explained his role, along with his wife Connie, in giving to communities in need around the country. Ballmer said:[7]
| “ | [M]y wife spent a lot of time on what we do from a civic contribution giving perspective, for a number of years, I've really joined her in that. We're focused on issues in the United States, particularly issues with people who have been trapped in neighborhoods in what I might call intergenerational poverty. It's not clear what kind of real contribution we can and should make, but we've been spending a lot of time focused in on it and it builds off work my wife has done, particularly focused in on child welfare.[8] | ” |
Political activity
Ballot measure activity
Overview of ballot measure support and opposition
The following table details Steve Ballmer’s ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:
| Ballot measure support and opposition for Steve Ballmer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballot measure | Year | Position | Status |
| Washington Individual Gun Access Prevention by Court Order, Initiative 1491 | 2016 | Supported[9] |  Approved
|
| Washington Universal Background Checks for Gun Purchases, Initiative 594 | 2014 | Supported[10] | Approved
|
| Washington Charter School Initiative, Initiative 1240 | 2012 | Supported[11] | Approved
|
| Washington Income Tax, Initiative 1098 | 2010 | Opposed[12] |  Defeated
|
| Seattle Proposition 1 | 2007 | Supported[13] | Defeated
|
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Steve Ballmer'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Nonprofit Quarterly, "Steve and Connie Ballmer Contemplate the Fight against Intergenerational Poverty," September 14, 2016
- ↑ Inside Philanthropy, "Steve Ballmer," accessed September 20, 2016
- ↑ Vanity Fair, "Microsoft's Lost Decade," August 2012
- ↑ Fast Company, "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's Legacy: A Salesman Without Product Vision," August 27, 2013
- ↑ USA Today, "Clippers sale to Steve Ballmer finalized, NBA says," August 12, 2014
- ↑ USA Today, "Steve Ballmer explains why he paid $2 billion for the Clippers," August 12, 2014
- ↑ Business Insider, "Steve Ballmer talks about the current state of Microsoft, his Twitter investment, and how sports tech can help the Clippers," February 6, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Commission,"ALLIANCE FOR GUN RESPONSIBILITY ERP COMM financial records," accessed August 28, 2016
- ↑ Q13Fox, "Bill & Melinda Gates donate $1 million to support I-594 gun background check measure," August 26, 2014
- ↑ The News Tribune, "Charter-school backers spending $116,000 to try to unseat state Supreme Court justice," July 28, 2016
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Wealthy contribute to defeat income tax," September 20, 2010
- ↑ Prop. 1 fundraising nears $5 million, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Nov. 1, 2007
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