Bad Boy Ballmer: The Man Who Rules Microsoft

The unauthorized biography of an immigrant's son whobecame a multibillionaire working for Bill Gates, and probably the highest-paid employee in American history.

In January 2000, Bill Gates gave his vast responsibilities and title of Microsoft CEO to his best friend Steve Ballmer, a man relatively unknown to the public. Based on in-depth study and interviews with classmates and Microsoft insiders, Fredric Alan Maxwell vividly brings to life one of the technology industry's most colorful and controversial figures: Steven Anthony Ballmer. From Ballmer's relatively humble suburban Detroit beginnings (where he and his archrival Scott McNealy went to competing high schools) and his 1974 meeting with Gates in a Harvard dorm, Maxwell richly details how the competition addicts Ballmer and Gates have worked together for the past twenty years to form Microsoft's ego and id. The up-by-the-bootstraps saga reveals both the good boy Ballmer -- the dedicated son, great friend, and supportive schoolmate -- and the bad boy Ballmer -- the ruthless businessman who earned the nickname "The Em-balmer."