Poll: new owner preference

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Not sure what you have against him. Guy with local ties and who has a massive net worth. Lord Balimer is the obvious choice.

[D-train]

Not sure what you have against him. Guy with local ties and who has a massive net worth. Lord Balimer is the obvious choice.

I feel like I have explained this 57 times but will do it again just for you. I will never forgive him for not buying the Sonics from Schultz for a measly $350M and then spending 6X that ($2B) for the Clippers after abandoning Hansen ostensibly ending his bid to bring a team here. And why did he? Because he was busy running MSFT into the ground. The graph below shows the stock price during his pathetic reign as CEO from 2000-2014 followed by the stock sky rocketing after he left.

And why do you care how rich an owner is given there is a salary Cap in the NFL?? As long as they are approved to buy the team they are able easily afford to max out the cap.

Screenshot 2026-05-12 103951.png (52.98 KiB) Viewed 63 times

[Sibelius Hindemith]

He was kind of a mixed bag as CEO...

Since Bill Gates' retirement, Ballmer oversaw a "dramatic shift away from the company's PC-first heritage", replacing most major division heads in order to break down the "talent-hoarding fiefdoms"; in 2012, this led Businessweek to say that the company "arguably [had] the best product lineup in its history". Ballmer drove Microsoft's "connected computing" strategy with acquisitions such as Skype.[36]

Under Ballmer's tenure as CEO, Microsoft's share price stagnated[40] even as the company's annual revenue surged from $25 billion to $70 billion, while its net income increased 215% to $23 billion, and its gross profit of 75 cents on every dollar in sales was double that of Google or IBM.[41] With the company's total annual profit growth of 16.4%, Ballmer's tenure at Microsoft surpassed the performances of other well-known CEOs such as General Electric's Jack Welch (11.2%) and IBM's Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (2%).[36] These gains came from the existing Windows and Office franchises, with Ballmer maintaining their profitability, fending off threats from competitors such as Linux and other open-source operating systems and Google Docs.[42] Ballmer also built half a dozen new businesses,[41] such as the data centers division and the Xbox entertainment and devices division ($8.9 billion),[43][37] and oversaw the acquisition of Skype. Ballmer also constructed the company's $20 billion Enterprise Business, consisting of new products and services such as Exchange, Windows Server, SQL Server, SharePoint, System Center, and Dynamics CRM, each of which initially faced an uphill battle for acceptance but have emerged as leading or dominant in each category.[37] This diversified product mix helped to offset the company's reliance on PCs and mobile computing devices as the company entered the post-PC era;

.......

Ballmer attracted criticism for failing to capitalize on several new consumer technologies, forcing Microsoft to play catch-up in the areas of tablet computing, smartphones and music players with mixed results.[36][41] According to The Wall Street Journal, under Ballmer's watch, "In many cases, Microsoft latched onto technologies like smartphones, touchscreens, 'smart' cars and wristwatches that read sports scores aloud long before Apple or Google did. But it repeatedly killed promising projects if they threatened its cash cows [Windows and Office]."[41] Ballmer was even named one of the worst CEOs of 2013 by the BBC.[45] As a result of these many criticisms, in May 2012, hedge fund manager David Einhorn called on Ballmer to step down as CEO of Microsoft. "His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft's stock," Einhorn said in reference to Ballmer.[46] In a May 2012 column in Forbes magazine, Adam Hartung described Ballmer as "the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company", saying he had "steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, headsets and tablets)".

Regarding his efforts to keep the Sonics in Seattle and his ownership of the Clippers...

On March 6, 2008, Seattle mayor Greg Nickels announced that a local ownership group involving Ballmer made a "game-changing" commitment to invest $150 million in cash toward a proposed $300 million renovation of KeyArena and were ready to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics from the Professional Basketball Club LLC in order to keep the team in Seattle. However, this initiative failed, and the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where they now play as the Oklahoma City Thunder.[100]

In June 2012, Ballmer was an investor in Chris R. Hansen's proposal to build a new arena in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle and bring the SuperSonics back to Seattle.[101] On January 9, 2013, Ballmer and Hansen led a group of investors in an attempt to purchase the Sacramento Kings from the Maloof family and relocate them to Seattle for an estimated $650 million. However, this attempt also fell through.[102]

Following the Donald Sterling scandal in May 2014, Ballmer was the highest bidder in an attempt to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers for a reported price of $2 billion, which was then the second-highest bid for a sports franchise in North American sports history (after the $2.15 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012). After a California court confirmed the authority of Shelly Sterling to sell the team, it was announced on August 12, 2014, that Ballmer would become the Los Angeles Clippers owner.[103]

In March 2020, Ballmer agreed to buy The Forum in Inglewood, California.[104] The purchase would allow him to build Intuit Dome in the nearby area since plans for a new Clippers' arena were opposed by the former owners of The Forum.[104]

In a survey conducted by The Athletic in December 2020, Ballmer was voted the best owner in basketball.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer

[D-train]

So he committed 150 million instead of just buying the damn team for $350 million. And then spent six times that much to buy the clippers. Brilliant

[D-train]

So he committed 150 million instead of just buying the damn team for $350 million. And then spent six times that much to buy the clippers. Brilliant

When the price of a technology growth stock is flat for 14 f****** years the CEO is a massive failure. The rest of the market was up by an average of about 300%

[Sibelius Hindemith]

I take it you owned some shares during that time.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

At least he's level-headed...

Mark Lucovsky, who left for Google in 2004, alleged in a sworn affidavit to a Washington state court that Ballmer became enraged upon being told by Lucovsky that he was about to leave Microsoft for Google, picked up a chair, and threw it across his office, and that, referring to then Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt (who had previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell), Ballmer vowed to "kill Google."[93][94] Lucovsky reports:[95]

At some point in the conversation Mr. Ballmer said: "Just tell me it's not Google." I told him it was Google. At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office. Mr. Ballmer then said: "Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google."[96]

[D-train]

At least he's level-headed...

Mark Lucovsky, who left for Google in 2004, alleged in a sworn affidavit to a Washington state court that Ballmer became enraged upon being told by Lucovsky that he was about to leave Microsoft for Google, picked up a chair, and threw it across his office, and that, referring to then Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt (who had previously worked for competitors Sun and Novell), Ballmer vowed to "kill Google."[93][94] Lucovsky reports:[95]

At some point in the conversation Mr. Ballmer said: "Just tell me it's not Google." I told him it was Google. At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office. Mr. Ballmer then said: "Fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google."[96]

Buffoon, Lunatic and proof that Life isn't fair if that clown can somehow be a billionaire.

[D-train]

13 seasons and the Clippers haven't even made the Western conference finals.

[Donn Beach]

Wow, if he was divorced why was her leverage for blackmail???

I don't think it was really about the money, it was Fatal Attraction shit. She felt jilted, had visions of marrying a billionaire. It's got to be interesting how billions of dollars distorts the relationships you have with the people around you. I'd like to have more money but not that much. I'd be happy spending a million dollars, a billion I think would become a burden.

If you have a billion you could just put in all in a savings account and at 3% interest you would make $30M a year. You could spend $2.5M a month and never touch the principal.

If I had it I would go all Hugh Hefner but instead of a Playboy mansion I would have and Instragram/Only Fans mansion with about 8-10 of the hottest woman on IG or OF living there all expenses paid. I would have a full time private chef, butler, Driver, about a half dozen maids, bartender and 3 Gardeners, full time security detail. A private jet to travel a week to 10 days a month all over the world. French Riviera, Monte Carlo, Swiss Alps, Running of the Bulls, Hawaii, Phuket, Thailand, Australia, Berlin for Octoberfest, African Safaris, Paris for Fashion Week, Rio for Carnival. South Beach, Vegas and the Hamptons. The Masters, the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby and Daytona 500.

I would have massive themed parties with A list live bands for St. Patrick's day, 4th of July, Halloween, Christmas, 70s night and Bikini night.

I would also build a replica of Sherriff Taylor's home in Andy Griffith's home town of Mt. Airy,NC complete with live size Wax Figurines of all the main characters and would have tours with 1960s pricing with all proceeds going to charity.

As you can tell I haven't thought about this much. lol

In my mind a billion comes with obligations, that's when you are obligated to be a phylanpathist, it will come with duty. You have it figured out, youre up to the task, that's what I'm talking about. I'm happy to just kick back. I don't need much to do that. I could put a million in the bank at 3% and live quite comfortably.