Lately, Microsoft board of directors has experienced various oppositions from dissenting ideas on the strategies used by the management to run the company. In August 2013, Steve Ballmer who was the chief executive officer of the company announced his intentions of stepping down and in February 2014 Satya Nadella took over as the chief executive officer. However, the efforts of Ballmer towards saving the company have not been successful as it is clear that Satya took over a company that is stumbling ("Should Apple Buy Microsoft?"). For instance, some products such as Microsoft Surface, Windows Phone, Windows 8, and Bing have not been a success for Microsoft company (Williams). Most of these products have been facing competition from firms that produce similar products such as Apple (Jackson). Many individuals prefer iPhone to Windows phone made by Microsoft. Also, users currently prefer to use computers running on Mac operating system made by Apple to Windows operating system made by Microsoft ("Big Guns Google, Microsoft, Apple and Adobe Throw Their Weight Behind Biometric Tech" 3-12). As a result, the revenues got from the sale of these products have reduced significantly (Shimel). Dissenting shareholders of Microsoft propose that the only way to save the company is to accept a merger with a better performing company operating in the same market industry such as Apple (Davis).
Another thing that was constant in later years of Ballmer and early years of Nadella’s term is the call to dissociate from the Xbox brand made by the company (Zeichick 5). Investors and stakeholders have strongly specified that the company should drop Xbox brand which they have termed as a gaming boondoggle (Davis). Shareholders and investors believe that the core competency of Microsoft is developing software because that is what it does best (Williams). An investment firm known as Vulcan that was created by Paul Allen who is also a Microsoft co-founder stated that Microsoft earnings are being distracted by the Xbox brand.
Work cited
Williams, Mike. "Microsoft Holding onto The Xbox Brand AKA The Trouble with Shareholders". USgamer.net. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 May 2016.
"Big Guns Google, Microsoft, Apple and Adobe Throw Their Weight Behind Biometric Tech". Biometric Technology Today 2015.5 (2015): 3-12. Web.
Davis, Jessica. "Apple Acquires Feelings, Microsoft R Update, 2016 Predictions: Big Data Roundup - Informationweek". InformationWeek. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 May 2016.
Davis, Jessica. "Apple, Microsoft, IBM: 7 Big Analytics Buys You Need to Know - Informationweek". InformationWeek. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 May 2016.
Jackson, Eric. "Forbes Welcome". Forbes.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 May 2016.
Shimel, Alan. "Apple Buys Microsoft, plans to Kill Off Windows". Network World. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 May 2016.
"Should Apple Buy Microsoft?". MacRumors Forums. N.p., 2016. Web. 6 May 2016.
Zeichick, Alan. "Yahoo Kicks Microsoft, Microsoft Kicks ISO, Apple Kicks Everyone”. netWorker 12.2 (2008): 5. Web.
