He worked for two years at Procter & Gamble Co. as an assistant product manager and attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business before joining Microsoft.
2/8
Ballmer earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Harvard University.
3/8
Ballmer was born in March 1956, and he grew up near Detroit where his father worked as a manager at Ford Motor Co.
4/8
Before becoming CEO in 2000, his roles at Microsoft included senior vice president of sales and support, senior vice president of systems software and vice president of marketing.
5/8
Ballmer took over as CEO in 2000 when co-founder Bill Gates stepped down from day-to-day operations at the company.
6/8
He joined Microsoft in 1980 and was the company’s first business manager.
7/8
Ballmer helped build Microsoft into a technology empire and then struggled to prevent it from crumbling under his own leadership
8/8
Steve Ballmer would retire within 12 months as the company searches for a successor at the helm to US tech pioneer.
