The future of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) remains unclear after the departure of its CEO, Steve Ballmer, who has been for thirteen years at the helm of the giant software maker, while the group faces a wide range of strategy options and must regain its ability to innovation. And now three of the top Microsoft shareholders argue in the board of directors of the group that Bill Gates should step down as chairman of the company he co-founded thirty-eight years ago.
As Steve Ballmer has always been under pressure from shareholders to improve performance and the share price of the company, this is the first time that a major group of shareholders target Bill Gates, who remains one of the most respected and influential figure in the field of information technology.
These three shareholders together represent more than 5 percent stake in the group, according to sources who wish to remain anonymous and protect the identity of the investors. Bill Gates retains about 4.5 percent shares of the group’s $277 billion market capitalization.
The three shareholders believe that the presence of Bill Gates on the board is blocking the adoption of new strategies and will not leave the next CEO enough room to make real changes. The trio also finds that the powers of Bill Gates, who spends most of his time at his philanthropic foundation, is disproportionate to its shareholder position, which must be reduced over the years .
Microsoft co-founder, who owned 49% of shares of the company prior to its IPO in 1986, sells about 80 million Microsoft shares each year under a prearranged plan. At this rate, he will have no stake in the company by 2018.
The group is seeking a new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer, whose strategy of transforming the company into a group present in both hardware (Surface tablet, Xbox) and Internet services is not officially questioned. But some shareholders believe that the next CEO will not be necessarily required to implement this strategy. Proponents of direction changes argue that the course of Microsoft stock has been stagnant for a decade and the company has lost ground to Apple and Google in the transition to mobile computing.
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