Ballmer Named President at Microsoft

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Corp.’s energetic No. 2 executive, was promoted to president Tuesday, formally recognizing his role as Chairman Bill Gates’ most trusted lieutenant.

Ballmer, 42, a close friend of Gates from their student days at Harvard University, joined Microsoft in 1980, five years after its founding, and has run its finance, recruiting and sales operations, amassing a fortune in stock currently worth about $13.5 billion.

Ballmer, most recently executive vice president of sales and support, long has been seen as the only logical choice to step in should anything happen to Gates, who tried to dispel any notion that he would take a less active role.

“I’m very excited about my job,” Gates said in a conference call with reporters. “If anything, this makes it even more attractive, so there’s nothing in here where I’m backing off at all. My commitment is the same as it’s always been.”

He said the appointment would allow him to spend more time with software developers working on “architectural breakthroughs” for a new generation of devices such as television set-top boxes, smart phones and tablet computers.

Ballmer becomes Microsoft’s first president since the departure of Mike Hallman in 1992 and will take over responsibility for virtually all the company’s operations.

Ballmer said the new position would give him an internal platform to “beat the drum louder about our total fixation on customer satisfaction and customer delight.”

Under the reorganization, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Herbold will report to Ballmer, as will group vice presidents Pete Higgins, Paul Maritz and Jeff Raikes and Senior Vice President Bill Neukom, the company’s top attorney.