Steve Ballmer says Microsoft should disclose profits, sales from hardware and cloud businesses

2 min. read

Published onDecember 2, 2015

published onDecember 2, 2015

Share this article

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial teamRead more

Microsoft ex-CEO Steve Ballmer left the company in current CEO Satya Nadella’s capable hands a couple of years ago, after setting up some of the company’s current strategies and requiring some other changes. For example, Ballmer got the Surface ball rolling, but he was also behind the Nokia acquisition. Win some, lose some.Now that he’s just another Microsoft shareholder, albeit one of some significance, Ballmer has some ideas on how the company should be run.As Bloomberg Business reports, Ballmer really wishes that Microsoft would release their hardware sales and margin numbers so that investors like him can more easily analyze the company’s performance. Microsoft reports run rates for annualized revenue for the entire cloud business and revenue/margin information on only some specific businesses, which isn’t as much detail as Ballmer would like to see.

“It’s sort of a key metric — if they talk about it as key to the company, they should report it,” said Ballmer, who is the company’s biggest individual shareholder, in a conversation in the audience at the software maker’s annual meeting in Bellevue, Washington.

We might comment that when Ballmer was the head of Microsoft, the company didn’t typically report these very same metrics, either. Perhaps it’s simply that Ballmer enjoyed having access to such information as Microsoft CEO.Microsoft’s response was cordial and diplomatic, as can be expected:

“We enjoy a regular dialogue with Steve, and welcome his input and feedback, as we do from our other investors.” said Chris Suh, Microsoft’s general manager for investor relations.

We can’t help but notice a little zinger in there, though, namely “as we do from our other investors,” and we don’t expect Microsoft to make any significant changes just to please Ballmer. But it’s fun to watch the former Microsoft CEO as he interacts with his old company and its new (and old) ways of doing business.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

User forum

0 messages

Sort by:LatestOldestMost Votes

Comment*

Name*

Email*

Commenting as.Not you?

Save information for future comments

Comment

Radu Tyrsina

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

Steve Ballmer says Microsoft should disclose profits, sales from hardware and cloud businesses#

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

Steve Ballmer says Microsoft should disclose profits, sales from hardware and cloud businesses