Microsoft CFO Quits 295
McGruber writes "NBC News is reporting that Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein is leaving the company to spend time with his extended family, as Microsoft 'struggles with sharply declining personal computer sales and a lukewarm reception for its new Windows 8 operating system.' Klein is the latest in a line of top-level executives to leave the company, following Windows head Steven Sinofsky last November."
Re:hardly cause for concern (Score:3, Interesting)
not to mention the actual financial news prepared by the CFO who just quit this quarter was actually very good for them
Creative accountants are always wise to move on before the product of their creativity is revealed in all its glory.
Re:Shares up? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:hardly cause for concern (Score:3, Interesting)
They've still got considerable assets which will take a long time to bleed out.
They basically get money for every PC sold. How is that an unhealthy situation?
People haven't rushed out in droves to replace their perfectly good PCs because of Windows 8. Tech mags love to make headlines out of that but it doesn't mean Microsoft is in trouble.
Re:Shares up? (Score:3, Interesting)
Not saying this is the case, but it would fit:
"Better than expected earnings" reported followed by "CFO leaving Microsoft." What if it turned out he left because someone insisted on filing deceptive or inaccurate numbers? Leaving in protest of such things would make sense of the two events wouldn't it?
Micro$oft (Score:5, Interesting)
And you expected something different here? Microsoft's latest numbers are actually astoundingly good, better than even most of the optimists predicted. They speak of a very healthy company, not one in decline at all.
Microsoft s numbers were *always* very good,, they deserve a $ on their name. 75% Gross profit margin is amazing, but that's not really the news here, because that is consistent. The news is that even with its primary product (Windows) taking a deserved beating they have made the difference up elsewhere (Servers; Gaming...well Live and Cloud...well Office).
The original poster I suspect was being a little sarcastic, but the Irony is not lost on me. From a financial point of view. Microsoft more diversified product line has saved it in the short term financially, but from where RMS and the rest of us look...Windows has proved to be a trainwreck, and Microsoft is weaker as a monopoly. Its high fives all around.
Re:hardly cause for concern (Score:5, Interesting)
How is that an unhealthy situation?
Because partners who've been closely tied to their success are now looking at alternatives.
"Vendors in China have revealed the Intel has begun to promote Android based convertible tablet/notebooks. Intel is concerned that Windows 8 has been unable to stimulate global demand for notebooks, and since global sales of Android tablets have been increasing, they are looking at reducing their reliance on the Microsoft OS.
China-based vendor Lenovo will be first to release Intel driven Android systems in May, while Hewlett-Packard (HP), Toshiba, Acer and Asustek Computer will launch theirs in the third quarter."
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130419PD208.html [digitimes.com]
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, the John McAfee package. Seems to be popular with the techie crowd. We're also having a special this week on the Kim Dotcom plan, if you're interested?
Ah... anyhow, there's probably a reason that these people are extremely rich and you're not. Luck is obviously a factor, but it takes a certain kind of drive to keep playing the game well after you need to.
Re:Come on CEO... (Score:5, Interesting)
Fixing a problem as large as the one at microsoft is a top-down job. You absolutely require a new CEO to fix it. Therefore stating that Ballmer is by far their largest problem is entirely accurate.
Re:Microsoft is in deep shit now! (Score:5, Interesting)
Half the problem is stock market expectations. You can't just do well, you must do better than last year. And not just better but the improvement has to be more than the previous year. Its hard to do that when you have pretty much already sold your product to everyone that has a computer.
As a good economist once said, "Humans don't understand exponential curves".
Re:Microsoft is in deep shit now! (Score:5, Interesting)
Even though this is modded down, it's really the bottom line: with Windows XP the operating system was basically done. Complete. Finished. No more features are required. Everything that was added later was either cruft or could just as easily have been implemented in Windows XP. The only reason why Microsoft kept certain things from XP (like proper 64-bit support, IE9+ and DirectX 10+) was to artificially create a reason for people to switch to future versions of Windows, not because XP didn't offer a decent platform for these things.
Same thing applies to Office by the way, the other big part in Microsoft's revenue stream: both Office and Windows are "done" and have been so for years. And since Microsoft hasn't been able to make any profits in markets outside of the Windows/Office ecosystem, the future of the company currently depends on how much longer they can convince people to keep buying new versions of the same old software. How long before the general public realizes they don't need to "upgrade" because they don't get anything they already have now? Looking at Windows 8 sales figures: not very long.
Re:Microsoft is in deep shit now! (Score:5, Interesting)
Results posted today reflect realities from a bit back in history. The shift away from laptops and desktops is ramping up extremely quickly. I'm not sure I've ever witnessed such a rapid shift in the marketplace. The closest I can think of might be the migration away from IE and that took several years really.
As an example, within the last week I've had conversations with two family members due new central computing devices. One is looking at a device like the Galaxy Note II as their primary computing device and the other is looking at a tablet. Both female. One 30ish and the other 60ish in age. Neither techies. All family members asking tech questions now are either phone or tablet related. None are asking about laptops or computers. It was exactly reverse a year ago.
Do my family members make a trend? No. But the sales figures are showing a HUGE shift like I'm seeing.
There's another trend emerging that is going to hit Microsoft really hard sooner or later that dovetails on the post-PC trend -- BYOD in companies. There are an increasing number of employees for whom tablets are just fine as their primary computing device. Basic productivity software such as Google Apps are just fine for their simple needs.
It's important to note that Windows 8 was Microsoft's first effort to insulate themselves from this trend. So far, their effort has been mostly a flop. Unless they really right the ship with Windows 9, they will shift from market dominance to just another vendor. And while this will be painful for MS employees and shareholders, it will be great for consumers.
Re:Come on CEO... (Score:2, Interesting)
Blackballmer.
Re:Come on CEO... (Score:5, Interesting)
The root of the problem is that Gates set the company to run business units like mini-startups... With super-tough managers over each one. Then Gates stepped back and provided the money and cheerleading. The problem is that the culture developed of the business unit managers all stabbing EACH OTHER in the back to get ahead. So Office, servers, IE, and Windows units are all to some extent fighting for turf because Gates gave it to two different groups, or technology changed. Ballmer is just continuing what he was taught.
Steve Jobs took the opposite approach (but only after he was kicked out and came back). If a product or service wasn't worth SETVE'S time then it was "coasting" or cut. Steve built Apple around its CEO paying attention to every detail of new products... And ATTENTION is limited and expensive.
The idea to chop Microsoft into thirds is Past time. Microsoft should have done it five to ten years ago when they were fighting breaking up. Now, they are fighting to be interesting at all. They need to cut or spinoff technologies.. But they need a CEO that LOVES THEIR PRODUCTS. If anything THAT is what made Steve-notes so special... The CEO of the company knew the product inside out and was excited and loved it! Microsoft needs to shed and pair down until that is true of their products and CEO.
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Re:Come on CEO... (Score:4, Interesting)
Honestly i don't even know who to compare Ballmer to as i can't think of a CEO that completely ignored everything they were being told, never before have I seen a company so large just whip out a gun and shoot themselves in the head like that. Everyone said Elop was a plant but look at who he learned from folks, Ballmer could be the subject of textbooks dedicated to showing how NOT to run a successful company. When he took over from Gates they were on top of the world, had a monopoly and money to burn, but under Ballmer it became a "lost decade" because he simply didn't know what to do with the company.
Ballmer and Elop are probably the only two worth comparing, and you're right - Elop probably learned a lot from Ballmer. Yet it's Elop that got the term "Elop Effect" named after him for what he did to Nokia, and who will certainly go down in the text books for it. Ballmer, though, probably won't be far behind with "Lost Decade", but it's not as catchy, nor has what he done been as dramatic to the company as Elop was with Nokia - and there are a lot of other things that could be linked to the demise of Microsoft as well - Ballmer has only been on (albeit large) factor in the equation.
Removing Ballmer won't be the whole solution for Microsoft. You need to remove numerous layers of management at the company - getting rid of everyone that has grown up there under Ballmer and Gates, everyone that has that same mentality of having "1 Microsoft Way" for the world of software. Then and only then does Microsoft stand a chance of reviving itself to any degree...
In the mean time they'll continue to ride out their profits from Windows and Office as the two diminish into oblivion over the next decade.