14 DAY TRIAL // Adam Hartung, Forbes analyst and managing partner at consulting firm Spark Partners, said in a blog post that CEO Steve Ballmer and the recently-released products completely ruined Microsoft, explaining that the company was very likely to close several divisions in the upcoming years and even to cut thousands of jobs.
Hartung, who called Ballmer “the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company” in 2012, said in his article that Microsoft’s monopoly over the personal computing industry had evaporated and the desire to upgrade products created by the Redmond-based technology titan had disappeared.
What’s more, the analyst expects to see Microsoft’s business declining even more in the upcoming years, so Ballmer’s retirement would be the only way to go.
“Failure is already inevitable. At this stage, not even a new CEO can save Microsoft. Steve Ballmer played ‘Bet the Company’ on the long-delayed release of Win8, losing the chance to refocus Microsoft on other growing divisions with greater chance of success,” he said.
Microsoft may fire thousands of people in the upcoming years, Hartung writes, with approximately 60 percent of its 94,000 workers to be forced to leave by the company. Some divisions may be closed, while the entertainment business could be sold to Sony or even Barnes & Noble.
“No longer is Microsoft seen as a leader, and instead it is rapidly losing market relevancy as people look to Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, Facebook and others for leadership. The declining sales, and lack of customer interest will lead to a tailspin at Microsoft not unlike what happened to RIM,” the analyst added.
While Hartung used some inaccurate figures when it comes to Windows 8, Surface RT and Windows XP, he recommended people to sell their Microsoft stock, as the business is going to collapse in the upcoming years.
“Game over. Ballmer loses. And if you keep your money invested in Microsoft it will disappear along with the company,” he concluded.