Origins & Early Life

Steven Anthony Ballmer ( BAWL-mər; born March 24, 1956) is an American businessman and investor who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and a co-founder of the Ballmer Group, a philanthropic investment company. As of February 2026, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his personal wealth at around $145 billion, making him the thirteenth-richest person in the world, and the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List ranked him as the fourteenth-richest person with a net worth of $130 billion. Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft in 1980, and subsequently left the MBA program at Stanford University.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He eventually became president in 1998, and replaced Gates as CEO on January 13, 2000. On February 4, 2014, Ballmer retired as CEO and was replaced by Satya Nadella; Ballmer remained on Microsoft's board of directors until August 19, 2014. Under Ballmer's leadership, a 14-year period, the company tripled sales and doubled profits, but lost its market dominance and missed out on 21st-century technology trends such as the ascendance of smartphones in the forms of...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• A. A. Milne — Contemporary (Died in 1956) (1956): Celebrated English author, famed for Winnie-the-Pooh and children's literature.
• Alan Davis — Contemporary (Born in 1956) (1956): English comic book writer and artist known for Captain Britain and X-Men work.
• Alan Eustace — Contemporary (Born in 1956) (1956): Pioneering computer scientist known for his work at Google and record-breaking space dive.
• Alan Sugar — Shared historical date (03-24 · Born) (1947): Pioneering British entrepreneur, founder of Amstrad, and TV personality.
• An Wang — Shared historical date (03-24 · Died) (1990): Pioneering Chinese-American computer engineer and cofounder of Wang Laboratories.
• Alfred Kinsey — Historical peer (Died in 1956) (1956): Pioneering sexologist whose research fundamentally shaped modern understanding of human sexuality.
• B. R. Ambedkar — Historical peer (Died in 1956) (1956): Pioneering jurist, economist, and social reformer who shaped modern India.
• Abraham Pais — Historical peer (Died in 2000) (2000): Pioneering physicist and acclaimed science historian of modern physics.
• Alec Guinness — Historical peer (Died in 2000) (2000): Iconic English actor celebrated for stage mastery and cinematic versatility.
• 2014 League of Legends World Championship — Historical peer (Born in 2014) (2014): The 4th League of Legends World Championship, held in Asia in 2014.
• 1956 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1956
• March 24 (03-24) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on March 24