Emerging trends in the future of technology
While the plethora of tech companies might make some entrepreneurs fear that the field is closed to them, Steve Ballmer says the field is still wide open. In an entrepreneur thought leader lecture given at Stanford University earlier this year, the Microsoft CEO said the… Continue Reading
Staying out of the weeds
Microsoft will never be mistaken for a small company – and it left its entrepreneurial roots behind long ago, but there are still important lessons new business owners can take from the company.
With so many divisions fighting for R&D dollars, CEO Steve Ballmer says he… Continue Reading
Roundup: Health sites to merge, Google may embrace traditional ads and more
Here’s the latest action:
Health site operators plan to team up against WebMD — The merger between Revolution Health Network and Waterfront Media is valued at $300 million, and should help the combined companies take on with market leader WebMD. We’ve heard that Revolution was trying to… Continue Reading
Sounds like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s optimism is fading
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer seems to be backing away from his previously expressed optimism about the economy — he said today that the ongoing financial crisis will “certainly” affect Microsoft.
“Financial issues are going to affect both business spending and consumer spending, and particularly …… Continue Reading
Developers, developers, developers ignoring, ignoring, ignoring Vista, Vista, Vista
We all know that Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer loves developers. If you’ve somehow missed his infamous video clip over the past few years, go here and pick your poison.
There’s just one problem with this love. Since the launch of Windows Vista, apparently it’s unrequited.
Only… Continue Reading
Icahn gets FTC approval to buy massive amounts of Yahoo stock
We’ve known that billionaire investor Carl Icahn had been trying to buy massive amounts of Yahoo stock to push ahead with his quest for a hostile takeover of the company. One speed bump in that plan was the Federal Trade Commission, which sometimes frowns upon… Continue Reading
Ballmer’s bad month comes to a head — as eggs fly at his head
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer hasn’t had a very good month.
First, he walked away from his $45 billion deal to buy Yahoo when it became clear that the two sides would not be able to reach an amicable agreement — and that a hostile takeover… Continue Reading
Microsoft offers to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion, in bid to challenge Google’s dominance
updated with notes from this morning’s conference call; also see our latest update here
Yahoo’s troubles of late have come to a head, with Microsoft offering to lay down $44.6 billion to acquire the struggling online company. The price breaks down to $31 per share, about… Continue Reading
Microsoft’s Ballmer: MSFT will acquire 20 companies a year
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer just said at the Web 2.0 conference here in San Francisco that the software giant will acquire 20 companies a year for the next five years, ranging from $50 million to $1 billion.
This steals from the playbook of News Corp,… Continue Reading
Microsoft’s Ballmer laughs at iPhone
Apple’s Steve Jobs ridiculed the Microsoft’s Zune, saying by the time you finish fiddling with one of its main features, “the girl’s got up and left.”
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer now laughs at the iPhone (click image above for video), saying it is “the… Continue Reading
Reflections: Ballmer, Parsons, Carr on why GooTube is too big
Before the Google-YouTube merger was announced, it didn’t sound ludicrous for Yahoo’s Terry Semel or Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer to speak boldly of competing against Google.
But Google has become so big, with advertisers willing to pay such a premium to place ads on the search engine,… Continue Reading
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer visits valley
Ballmer and me (Matt)
Today Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer invited me (Matt) for a twenty-minute drive in his car to the Microsoft campus in Mountain View.
I decided I could hang with Steve (Eric was busy with Google’s shareholders meeting). So I hopped into his… Continue Reading