Steve Ballmer's honest goodbye letter

People of Microsoft,

After thirteen and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Microsoft, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time running an NBA team. Just kidding - I was fired today. If you're wondering why... you haven't been paying attention. From missing big changes in the industry like the cloud and mobile to poor execution on our flagship product to misguided acquisitions like Acquantive, Skype and Yahoo^H^H^H^H^H^H^H and a stock that's a worse investment than a treasury bond, the events of the decade and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.

You are doing amazing things at Microsoft. I love this company. I love the way we helped invent and popularize computing and the PC. I love the bigness and boldness of our bets. I love our people and their talent and our willingness to accept and embrace their range of capabilities, including their quirks. I love the way we embrace and work with other companies to change the world and succeed together. I love the breadth and diversity of our customers, from consumer to enterprise, across industries, countries, and people of all backgrounds and age groups.

You deserve a second chance at becoming the industry leader. I'm getting in the way of that. A fresh CEO earns you that chance. The board is aligned behind our new organization plan which is centered on functions and engineering areas, and I've sure this will lead you to working together more effectively as a single company - it's time for a leader who can give Microsoft a relief valve from the public noise.

For those who are concerned about me, please don't be - I'm still one of the biggest owners of the company. I'm OK with having failed - it still worked out pretty well for me. I wanted to make a video game reference here, but J wouldn't return my calls. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company this far with all of you. I'll now take some time to decompress (FYI I'm looking for a good dance camp to lose my MS 50, if anyone has a suggestion), and then maybe I'll figure out how to channel this experience into something productive.

If there's one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: focus on our customers and not on the competition. My biggest regrets are the moments that I led wild goose chases into markets that were missuited for us out of envy and lack of focus. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver amazing products, services and devices - don't waste the opportunity!

Let’s do ourselves proud.

Love,
Steve

(thanks to Andrew Mason ex-Groupon for the idea)