Steve Ballmer became Microsoft’s second CEO, succeeding Bill Gates, who hired him in 1980 as the company’s first business manager. Soon after, Ballmer helped land a major deal with IBM to provide the operating system for its computers.
He is credited for continuing to grow Microsoft’s enterprise strategy, steadily growing the company’s bottom line, overseeing the launch of the original Xbox and investing in the cloud. Ballmer retired from Microsoft in 2013.
Gates transitioned to a new role as technology advisor and Microsoft board member, serving as chairman until 2014. In recent years he has devoted more time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, created in 1997 to address the biggest health and education issues of our time.
