> People who say Ballmer is a bad CEO based on the stock price really aren't paying attention
Most of the criticism here doesn't mention the stock price, but since you bring it up...
> He took over at the height of the tech bubble. Microsoft's PE (and everything else) was a joke.
Even if you set your start date as the collapse of the tech bubble in 2002, Microsoft's stock price has remained pretty flat. You might argue that the market was still overvaluing Microsoft in 2002, but perhaps that was because it overvalued the ability of its CEO to grow profits and return cash to shareholders.
> Since he took over revenue and profits have increased by an impressive amount
How much of the increase in profits is due to the Windows/Office cash cow, which would have existed under any other CEO? For the remaining growth in profits, how much money was invested to achieve that growth? After all, any CEO can increase company profit by $1 billion per year - he just needs to put $20 billion in a bank account.
I'm not saying he is a great CEO. I'm saying he was put in an impossible situation and he's done fine. Msft had a PE of 58 when he started. And he gets to follow bill gates. Just like Tim cook. It doesn't matter how well he does, people are calling for his head because he isn't Steve jobs. It's tough to follow a legend. (I also think Tim cook is doing just fine)
Most of the criticism here doesn't mention the stock price, but since you bring it up...
> He took over at the height of the tech bubble. Microsoft's PE (and everything else) was a joke.
Even if you set your start date as the collapse of the tech bubble in 2002, Microsoft's stock price has remained pretty flat. You might argue that the market was still overvaluing Microsoft in 2002, but perhaps that was because it overvalued the ability of its CEO to grow profits and return cash to shareholders.
> Since he took over revenue and profits have increased by an impressive amount
How much of the increase in profits is due to the Windows/Office cash cow, which would have existed under any other CEO? For the remaining growth in profits, how much money was invested to achieve that growth? After all, any CEO can increase company profit by $1 billion per year - he just needs to put $20 billion in a bank account.