http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060615/ap_on_bi_ge/microsoft
Microsoft's Gates to leave daily role
By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer
1 minute ago
June 15, 2006
REDMOND, Wash. - Bill Gates plans to withdraw from day-to-day duties at
Microsoft Corp., so he can focus on his charitable foundation while others run
the company he co-founded and guided to industry dominance and vast personal
wealth.
Gates, 50, said Thursday he will remain the company's chairman after
transferring his daily responsibilities over a two-year period.
The move will end an era at Microsoft, which Gates founded in 1975 with
childhood pal Paul Allen and has been the public face of ever since.
The Redmond company on Thursday laid out a plan for other high-ranking
executives to take on Gates' duties. Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer
also noted that recent corporate reorganizations have been designed to move more
responsibility to lower-ranking executives, so the company could more quickly
make decisions without Gates and Ballmer.
But, in an interview with The Associated Press, Ballmer conceded that there was
no way to replace Gates.
"If we think anybody gets to be Bill Gates, I don't think that's a realistic
hypothesis," he said.
Gates stressed that, although he was giving up day-to-day responsibilities
beginning in July 2008, he would still play a role at the company.
"I'm not leaving Microsoft," he said.
Gates also said he had no plans to give up the distinction of being the
company's largest shareholder.
"I'm proud of that," he said.
Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will immediately assume Gate's title
as chief software architect and begin working with Gates on overseeing all
software technical design. There are three technical officers at Microsoft.
Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of
chief research and strategy officer and will work with Gates in those areas.
Mundie also will work with general counsel Brad Smith to guide Microsoft's
intellectual property and technology policy efforts.
Gates' decision comes at a difficult time for Microsoft. The company recently
said it was delaying the new version of its Windows operating system yet again,
and it is struggling to compete with Internet giants such as Google Inc. and
Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) Investors also were caught off guard this spring
when Microsoft announced plans to substantially increase overall research and
development costs, and sent share prices tumbling.
But Gates said Microsoft is always facing new competitors and challenges and the
recent spate didn't affect his decision.
"There isn't any time in our history when there haven't been questions about
Microsoft," he said.
Gates is ranked by Forbes magazine as the world's richest man, with an estimated
wealth of about $50 billion. That great wealth, he said, also brings great
responsibility, and he repeated his often-spoken desire to give away the bulk of
his fortune to charity.
Gates said he didn't realize when he started the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
in 2000 what potential there was for addressing some of the world's greatest
problems, such as global health and education. The foundation is now the world's
largest philanthropy, with assets totaling $29.1 billion.
"Just as Microsoft has taken off in ways I never expected, so has the work of
the foundation," he said.
Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft with Allen in 1975. He took
Microsoft public in 1986 and was the company's chairman and CEO until 2000, when
he assumed the role of chief software architect and Ballmer, a college friend
and one of Gates' early hires, took over the role of chief executive officer.
Ballmer will remain responsible for all day-to-day operations and the company's
business strategy.
The world "has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on
me," Gates said, when in reality, Microsoft is a company with an extraordinary
depth and breadth of talent.
"Our leadership team has never been stronger," he said.
"Bill and I are confident we've got a great team that can step up to fill his
shoes and drive Microsoft innovation forward without missing a beat," Ballmer
said.
Ballmer said he had no plans to step down soon.
"I'm in it for the long run," Ballmer said.
For the past six years Gates has focused on Microsoft's software development as
the company's chairman and chief software architect.
Ozzie, 50, worked on the first electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc, in the early
1980s. In 1983, he joined Lotus Development Corp. - Microsoft's archrival at the
time - to develop Lotus Symphony, a business software suite.
He later founded Groove Networks, where he developed Groove Virtual Office.
Microsoft acquired Groove Networks in April 2005 and named Ozzie chief technical
officer.
Mundie, 56, joined Microsoft in 1992 to create and run its Consumer Platforms
Division, which was responsible for non-personal computer software. Mundie also
started Microsoft's digital TV efforts. His current responsibilities include
global technology policy and a variety of technical and business incubation
efforts.
Ozzie and Mundie will continue to report to Gates. At an unspecified time during
the two-year transition period, they will shift to reporting to Ballmer.
The news was announced after financial markets closed. Earlier, shares in
Microsoft rose 19 cents, or 0.87 percent, to close Thursday at $22.07 on the
Nasdaq Stock Market. Shares lost 9 cents in after-hours trading.
