Unlike most of the world’s richest people, Steve Ballmer did not start a company or inherit money from a rich family. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he met Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder and long-time CEO Bill Gates. Ballmer was hired by Gates just after Microsoft was founded and worked his way up to the CEO’s job.
Ballmer’s net worth hit $145 billion recently, almost all because he held Microsoft stock long after leaving the CEO position in 2014. Ballmer joined the tech company in 1980 and became CEO in 2000. During his 14-year tenure as CEO, Microsft’s revenue tripled. As Ballmer left Eric Jackson at the hedge fund Ironfire Capital, he told Reuters, “I don’t see anybody else on the management team at Microsoft that I think would be much better than Ballmer.” Ballmer was criticized for not launching popular products like the rival Steve Jobs did at Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Ballmer kept 333 million shares despite leaving, about triple the number Gates has kept. His total makes him the largest private holder of Microsoft stock.
Ballmer has become a major philanthropist. While not as visible as Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to Forbes, “He has ramped up his philanthropy since 2014; to date the Ballmers have given away more than $4 billion.”
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