Skip to main content

Ballmer Exits: Microsoft Inks Deal With ValueAct That May Lead To Board Seat.

Today Microsoft announced that it has reached a “cooperation agreement” with ValueAct Capital, an investment company that had been a thorn in its side. It was said that ValueAct wanted a seat on Microsoft’s board.

Instead, Microsoft and ValueAct have come to a different agreement, in which the president of ValueAct – Mason Morfit – and Microsoft directors will meet to talk over issues relating to the company. Morfit will also be given a chance at joining the board, after the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

ValueAct owns 0.8% of Microsoft’s outstanding shares. It’s a hefty investment, one that is large enough for the investor to command the attention of the company’s board.

microsoft-sede-redmond

It was said following Microsoft CEO’s Steve Ballmer’s promise to step down within the next 12 months that ValueAct and its pressure on the company was key to his removal. It is not clear if that is the case, or pressure resulting from a massive $900 million Surface writedown, or the ensuing market shellacking of Microsoft’s stock were larger catalysts. That said, to have the news of the agreement come precisely one week following the Ballmer announcement, is more than slightly suspicious.

ValueAct is a large firm, with assets under management of $12 billion. That’s enough money to cause havoc.

Departing CEO Steve Ballmer had nice things to say about his tormentors: “Our board and management team are committed to enhancing growth and value for Microsoft shareholders, and we look forward to ValueAct Capital’s input.”

Only, I don’t think that that is true. Nice boilerplate, but I can’t imagine that Ballmer is too enthused about ceding some of his authority in his final days atop the Microsoft org chart to money folks from San Francisco.

Whatever the case, Microsoft appears to have cleaned the decks of its little investor problem.

If you liked this article, subscribe to the feed by clicking the image below to keep informed about new contents of the blog:

windows_xp

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Do not insert clickable links or your comment will be deleted. Checkbox Send me notifications to be notified of new comments via email.

Popular posts from this blog

Windows Media Player 12 Themes for Windows 7

Bored of your default Windows Media Player Skins?. Grab some fresh and new Windows Media Player 12 themes for Windows 7 ! Windows Media Player 12 Codecs Windows Media Player 12 comes with support for DivX and MP4, but it still lacks supports for many other video formats. (amr | mpc | ofr | divx | mka | ape | flac | evo | flv | m4b | mkv | ogg | ogv | ogm | rmvb | xvid)ù A popular codec pack can be downloaded here and here . Windows Media Player 12 Skins The following skin packages includes some really awesome themes for your Windows Media Player: Alienware Theme Batman Theme Catwoman Theme Darkstar Theme Half-Life Theme Halo 2 Theme The Last Samurai Theme Stalker Theme XBOX Theme XSN Sports Them Download Windows Media Player Themes Pack 1 (70 Skins) Download Windows Media Player Themes Pack 2 (12 Skins) New Year Theme 2010 for Windows 7 This theme can be downloaded for free from uploaded.to Custom Search If you liked this article, subscribe t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that, when pressed, can be used to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device. Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to interact with your computer, saving you time and effort as you work with Windows and other programs.  Most programs also provide accelerator keys that can make it easier to work with menus and other commands. Check the menus of programs for accelerator keys.  If a letter is underlined in a menu, that usually means that pressing the Alt key in combination with the underlined key will have the same effect as clicking that menu item. Pressing the Alt key in some programs, such as Paint and WordPad, shows commands that are labeled with additional keys that you can press to use them. Dialog box keyboard shortcuts. The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for use in dialog boxes. Press this key To do this: Ctrl+Tab Move forward through tabs...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to change the size of the touch and on-screen keyboard in Windows 10

Windows 10 PCs come with two keyboard apps, one is the OnScreen Keyboard , and the other is the Touch Keyboard . Basically, you don't need a touch screen to use the on-screen keyboard. It displays a virtual keyboard on the screen and you can use the mouse to select and press the keys. Although the on-screen keyboard app is very useful when we don't have a physical keyboard, its size is always a problem for users. You can move or enlarge the virtual keyboard from the icons in the upper right corner. If you want, you can also easily resize it. Changing the size of the on-screen keyboard is very easy. Type On-Screen Keyboard in your Windows search and run the desktop app, or you can also go via Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard> Turn on the On-screen keyboard.   To change the size of the on-screen keyboard, move the cursor to the corner and drag it to the desired size. Resizing the touch keyboard is as simple as doing it! Just drag it and resize it us...
Post a Comment
Read more