Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment

Yahoo fallout just the first challenge for Ballmer, Microsoft
Posted May 29, 2008 3:05 PM CDT
Life After Gates Will Take Some Adjustment
Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, talks to the crowd of scientists as the keynote speaker for the seventh annual Institute for Systems Biology International Symposium in Seattle, April 21, 2008.   (AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey, File)

Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer are facing a scary, new post-Bill-Gates world, Therese Poletti writes on MarketWatch. On a panel at the All Things Digital conference earlier this week, Ballmer and Gates fielded questions about Microsoft’s failed Yahoo bid and unpopular Vista operating system. “Ballmer and indeed Microsoft face many challenges on the road ahead,” comments Poletti.

The company’s dropped bid to buy Yahoo was a focal point. One audience member asked Ballmer if he felt the company’s reputation was damaged after its failure to buy the Internet icon. (Answer: “Not at all.”) And Poletti quotes an anonymous startup CEO who says Ballmer should have just upped his bid a bit to see the deal through.

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