According to
Reuters, three of the top 20 shareholders in the giant software company wants
co-founder Bill Gates – who co-founded the company with Paul Allen about 38
years ago – to resign as the Chairman of the board.
Reuters claim
people with the knowledge of the matter have revealed this though the sources
have failed to mention the names of the 3 shareholders claiming it was a
private conversation. The three shareholders have over 5% share of the company
altogether.
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| Bill Gates |
They have
claimed that Bill Gates – who is the largest single shareholder of Microsoft
with a 4.5% stake of the $277 billion company – wields power out of proportion
to his shareholding.
Bill Gates
had 49% of the software company before it went public in 1986 but has started
selling 80 million shares annually under a plan and this would see him have no
share of the company by 2018.
Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer has previously been under pressure for the performance of the
company as the PC business is closing down and mobile devices are replacing it.
This is the first time there will be pressure on the Microsoft co-founder.
In August,
Steve Ballmer announced he will leave Microsoft in the next 12 months as
Microsoft looks for another CEO. The investors also claim that the company will
not have a major change of direction as far as Bill Gates is still the Chairman
of the board.
Bill Gates is
present in the committee to choose Steve’s successor and this has led to
insinuations that the new CEO will not have the full freedom to make changes at
the company. They said Bill Gates is better as the CEO of the company than as
the Chairman of the board.
Bill Gates
left the post of the CEO in 2000 as Steve Ballmer became the new CEO. He left
his day-to-day duties at the company in 2008 to focus on the $38 billion Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Microsoft was
contacted but has not responded to the news. There are however suggestions that
Microsoft is unlikely to carry out such a suggestion at this point in time.
Source:
Reuters
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Microsoft investors want Bill Gates to step down