←back to thread

Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

(danluu.com)
371 points greggyb | 1 comments | 28 Oct 24 21:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.348s | source
Show context
devinegan ◴[28 Oct 24 22:37 UTC] No.41977252[source]▶
"When Ballmer became CEO in January 2000, Microsoft's stock was around $53. When he stepped down in February 2014, it was around $38."

By that metric, no he wasn't underrated.

replies(3): >>41977666 #>>41978121 #>>41978509 #
1. missedthecue ◴[29 Oct 24 01:36 UTC] No.41978509[source]▶
Unfair thing to measure him by in my opinion. Steve Ballmer inherited Microsoft when the stock traded at a P/E of 60. When he left it was 14, in line with many other tech stocks during that time. (Even Apple was lower)

He took earnings per share from $0.70 to $2.63 during his tenure. A CAGR of 10.5% across 13 years in one of the world's biggest companies. He couldn't control multiple compression following the dotcom bust.