Preston Gralla

Seeing Through Windows

April 4, 2011 - 12:07 P.M.

Microsoft employees rate Steve Ballmer as tech's worst CEO. How long can he last?

By Preston Gralla

The site glassdoor.com says the approval rating of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer from his employees is the lowest of any major tech company -- a dismal 40%. Given this latest piece of bad news, how long can he last at Microsoft?

For the last two years, Glassdoor.com has regularly surveyed employees of a dozen major tech companies and asks them to rate their CEOs. It just announced the latest year's rankings, and the news couldn't be worse for Ballmer. His approval rating is down in the dumps, at 40%. The next worst CEO rating is well above his, eBay's John Donahoe at 46%.

At the top is outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt, with 96%, followed closely by Steve Jobs (on health leave) with 95%.

Ballmer also has the distinction of having the second biggest decline of any of the CEOs, falling from a poor 46% last year to the dismal 40% this year.

Below, from the glassdoor site, you can see the ranking, and then underneath that, from the site, a comparison of Schmidt's, Bartz's and Ballmer's approval rating over the last several years. Not a pretty picture, is it?

[Image credit: Glassdoor.com]

 

[Image credit: Glassdoor.com]

 

 At this rate, how long can Ballmer last? He has been frequently criticized by many outside of Microsoft for lacking vision. On his watch, Google zoomed to dominate Internet search, and Apple and Google have dominated the smartphone business -- the two greatest growth areas in tech.

Even the Microsoft board, which generally supports Ballmer, no matter what he does, has been restive. Back in September, they gave him only half of his potential bonus, and faulted him for:

the unsuccessful launch of the Kin phone; loss of market share in the company's mobile phone business; and the need for the Company to pursue innovations to take advantage of new form factors.

As the glassdoor rating shows, he's clearly lost the trust of his employees as well. With a lukewarm rating by the board, with his employees clearly not behind him, and with constant outside criticism, it's not clear how long his tenure will be at Microsoft.

Ballmer has said that he plans to retire in 2018. Don't count on him lasting that long.

What People Are Saying

He's just following the Microsoft Way

Submitted by davesmall on April 5, 2011 - 6:25 P.M.

I think the most profound evidence that Ballmer must go can be found here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MSFT+Basic+Chart&t=my

This chart plots Microsoft's stock price from the beginning until now. Ballmer took over as CEO in the year 2000. The chart shows what's happened to the stock price since then. Before 2000, quite a few Microsoft employees became millionaires due to rapid escalation in the value of their stock options. It hasn't happened during Ballmer's tenure.

Mr. Ballmer is just following a proven formula that worked well for them until about ten years ago. They think of Windows and Office as the two centers of the computing universe. They keep adding features in order to justify a hefty upgrade price.

With their captive user base, this has given them somewhat of a bird nest on the ground. I don't think they're in the software business any more. Now they're in the 'software upgrades' business.

During Gates tenure, they were a very tough competitor. If a smaller company came up with a product or feature that they wanted, they would first try to hire away the key engineering talent. Failing that they would try to buy the company. Sometimes, they would try to force the competitor out of business, as with Netscape, and just take over the category.

Everything worked fine so long as most software ran on a desktop PC with Windows. They thought of competitors, like Sun and Apple, more as nuisances than a real problem.

When Gates was CEO they were quick to squash any budding threat. Under Ballmer they've been slower than molasses. The Vista fiasco gave Apple plenty of time to build a following with OS-X and to gain command of the high ground in laptop computers. They didn't wake up to Google until it was too late. The iPhone crushed them like a steam roller. Now they're floundering and losing talent. Ballmer is a dead man walking. The first symptom of death is denial.