Thursday, July 29, 2010

Microsoft, Ballmer & Holman Jenkins, Jr.

Yesterday's editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Holman Jenkins, Jr., finally echoed my series of posts castigating Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and the overall management of Microsoft.

I won't bother to provide all the links. Just search under any of three labels- Microsoft, Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates.

While Jenkins didn't touch the topic of self-breakup, he did note that Ballmer had held himself to the task of creating a third major business, besides operating systems and applications, at which he has notably and miserably failed.

Like me, Jenkins noted,

"At bottom, this is a corporate governance problem."

I've also discussed the retreads and nobodys on the firm's board, the better to kowtow to the CEO.

His solution is one I can second, if the firm won't break itself up. Jenkins suggests they raise the ordinary dividend so high as to require the creation of a successful new business, in order to fund it.

Forced repatriation of shareholder wealth via cash dividends- I like it.

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