
How Steve Ballmer Got So Much of Microsoft (2014) - bane
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2014/09/30/long-ago-twist-yielded-ballmer-a-fortune-in-microsoft-stock/
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chollida1
Can someone rationalize this statement for me:

> Meanwhile, Microsoft’s first venture capitalist, Dave Marquardt, grumbled
> that it didn’t make sense for Microsoft to keep operating as a private
> partnership, with Gates owning 64% and Allen holding the other 36%.

How does Microsoft have a venture captialist if Bill and Paul own the entire
company? I thought this might be pre investment but then the article says:

> Before long, Ballmer and Marquardt presented Microsoft’s founders with a
> proposed new capital structure. Gates and Allen would keep 84% of the
> company. Ballmer would get about 8%, in return for canceling his profit-
> sharing clause. All other employees would split the final 8%.

SO they reorg so 3 people hold 92% of the company and the rest of the
employees get 8% of the company. What was the venture capitalist buying here?

~~~
GCA10
Thanks for the question. The 64/36 is pre-VC-investment, and the story could
have explained that better.

Marquardt's venture firm, TCI bought 5% of Microsoft in 1981. Link is here:
[http://www.techntechie.com/early-investors-in-microsoft-
you-...](http://www.techntechie.com/early-investors-in-microsoft-you-would-
love-to-know.html)

I'm thinking that the Gates/Allen stake settles post re-org at 79% once TCI is
invested. That gets the percentages to add to 100% (always wise.)

~~~
gadders
You're the author of the article?

~~~
GCA10
Yes indeed

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bshimmin
That photograph really is sensational. Gates looks wonderfully young and
innocent, almost angelic. Ballmer looks like an enthusiastic understudy for
Jack Nicholson in "The Shining".

~~~
drzaiusapelord
Attacking people's looks is a pretty low blow. How would you like if you
started a company, published a photo, and everyone started calling you names
purely on your looks? As someone who is older and perpetually 15-20lbs
overweight, its really unnerving to see how young people just think its cool
to lash out on the looks of others so casually without regard for the other
person at all. Internet cattiness has become this mainstream thing and its
inexcusable. This is HN not PerezHilton.com.

Its also hypocritical, because if someone said something about the looks of
Bernie Sanders or Marc Andreesen then he would be downvoted to hell and back,
but because Ballmer is a controversial figure the fat/ugly/psycho-killer
comments are excused and as you can see below rationalized.

Please keep the discourse at a higher level and on-topic. Thanks.

~~~
fizzbatter
> Please keep the discourse at a higher level and on-topic. Thanks.

How is pointing out the difference in how the article visually represents the
figures not on-topic? It seems very on-topic to me. Furthermore, highlighting
an unflattering, possibly biased difference _against_ Ballmer, is actually _in
favor_ of him in my opinion. I read the OP comment as pointing out how the
article may be biased against Ballmer.

> Internet cattiness has become this mainstream thing and its inexcusable.
> This is HN not PerezHilton.com.

To me, you're the one being "catty" for no reason at all. This is definitely
HN alright.

~~~
jsprogrammer
>To me, you're the one being "catty" for no reason at all.

Please, the person you responded to put in two paragraphs of their reasoning.

HN indeed.

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aqme28
_Needing help in a hurry, Microsoft cofounders Bill Gates and Paul Allen
agreed to pay Ballmer not just an annual base salary of about $50,000 but also
10% of all the profit growth he could generate._

But how did he get such an insanely sweet deal?

~~~
oldmanjay
Well there's the obvious fact that he is a top-notch businessman who, after
negotiating that deal, was a key player in building one of the world's most
valuable companies. It was just one of his skills.

~~~
tgb
And they knew he was worth hiring since his credentials as a top notch
business man were obvious the moment he negotiated a 10% deal! It's a self-
fulfilling prophecy.

~~~
oldmanjay
Perhaps I wasn't clear - his ability to negotiate that deal foreshadowed his
(clear with hindsight) exceptional business skills.

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rdl
In this Forbes article, and in [http://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-
ballmer-tried-to-r...](http://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-
tried-to-rip-me-off/) Allen doesn't come off very well. I'm not sure if that's
accurate.

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rasz_pl
The office character of Todd Packer was probably based on Ballmer.

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dang
Url changed from
[https://i.imgur.com/Fra8T4W.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Fra8T4W.jpg).

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Keyframe
So Bill Gates owes Microsoft $500 mil?

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dpark
> _valued at about $15.5 billion, which is $1.6 billion more than Gates’
> remaining holding_

1.6 more, not 16 more.

~~~
Keyframe
Ah, I missed the dot. Thanks.

~~~
dpark
Quite welcome.

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bitwize
By being Bill Gates's Harvard buddy.

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tajen
Be nice to nerds ("...One day they'll be your boss", Bill Gates), be nice to
anyone. There's always someone looking. I have once been the only guy who gave
a job to that silent foreigner in my classroom. That got me a surprise
invitation to Brazil 10 years later. There's always something to win by being
inclusive.

~~~
bitwize
Yes, I suppose so, and yet the largest software company in the world fell into
his feckless, fumbling hands because of _who he was_ , not what he could do;
and may never regain its footing.

