Latest Steve Ballmer Stories

During a news conference at Louvain-La-Neuve University on Thursday, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corp., announced that the firm may consider offering its Windows XP operating system longer than previously expected.Ballmer added that the majority of customers who purchase new PCs are buying them with Vista already installed."That's the statistical truth," he said. "If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter.Microsoft had planned on discontinuing Windows XP...

Responding to Microsoft's three-week deadline to accept a $41 billion buyout bid, Yahoo Inc. said in a statement Monday it does not oppose the deal, but instead wants a better offer.The statement comes after the world's largest software maker warned in a letter to Yahoo's board on Saturday that if a deal isn't reached by April 26 it will launch a hostile takeover at a less attractive price.Yahoo issued its most comprehensive statement to date regarding the bid in a letter to Microsoft CEO...

In a letter to Yahoo's Board of Directors, dated April 5 and signed by CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Corp. set a three week deadline for its buyout offer of more than $40 million.  If Yahoo's board does not respond to the letter's April 26 deadline to accept the $31 per share cash and stock offer,  Microsoft said it may lower its bid and take the matter directly to Yahoo's shareholders, while moving to elect a new slate of directors."If we have not concluded an agreement within the...

Microsoft's purchase proposal toward Yahoo is beginning to make Google Inc. panic. On Monday, Google representatives voiced their concerns about information accessibility in the instance that Microsoft eventually acquired Yahoo. Google's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told reporters that any acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft would be a major concern. He stated, "We would hope that anything they did would be consistent with the openness of the Internet, but I doubt it would be." Last month's...

Mike McCue hasn't talked to Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) co-founder Jerry Yang since Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) ambushed the Internet pioneer with an unsolicited takeover bid a month ago.But McCue would like his old friend to know that becoming a Silicon Valley subsidiary of the world's largest software maker can work out well.Becoming a cog in a corporate machine isn't something McCue had in mind during the eight years that he spent building Tellme, which makes the technology behind directory assistance...

By Daisuke Wakabayashi REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates said on Thursday that over the next two years he will ease out of a day-to-day role at the company he built into the world's biggest software maker. His decision to step down immediately as chief software architect and to relinquish all managerial roles in July 2008 comes at a time when Microsoft, whose Windows operating system runs an estimated 90 percent of the world's personal computers, is...

By Daisuke WakabayashiREDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates said on Thursday that over the next two years he will ease out of a day-to-day role at the company he built into the world's biggest software maker.His decision to step down immediately as chief software architect and to relinquish all managerial roles in July 2008 comes at a time when Microsoft, whose Windows operating system runs an estimated 90 percent of the world's personal computers, is struggling...

SANTA CLARA, California -- Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday he has a five-year target to gain a bigger slice of the lucrative online advertising market dominated by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.Speaking at a business luncheon in Silicon Valley, Ballmer said he did not enjoy trailing the two Web advertising leaders but predicted that persistence and the software maker's ability to create new technology would help it catch up."I don't think you will see some...

By Sabina Zawadzki BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Microsoft faced fresh antitrust pressure from the European Commission on Wednesday, a day before it fights to stave off fines handed down in a previous case by EU competition regulators. The Commission said European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes had written to Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to express worries about the company's new operating system, Vista. The software giant is embroiled in a long-running battle with the...

BARCELONA -- Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer expects smartphones powered by the company's Windows Mobile software to sell for $100 within one or two years, which would create a huge market. "We will get smartphones at consumer style prices," Ballmer said in an interview on Tuesday at the 3GSM wireless trade show."I think it will take a year or two before we get to $100 type offerings (of Windows Mobile devices). I may be wrong, but not by much," he told...