Report claims that ValueAct has started talks for a seat on the company’s board

Jul 22, 2013 05:57 GMT  ·  By

ValueAct has recently purchased a $2 billion (€1.5 billion) stake in Microsoft and even though the company has initially stated that it has no intention to get involved in the software giant’s business, a new report claims otherwise.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters writes that ValueAct has started talks for a seat on the company’s board, but it’s not yet clear whether any major changes are planned or not.

Back in April when ValueAct officially announced the $2 billion stake takeover, sources from within the company suggested that founder Jeffrey Ubben might try to get rid of CEO Steve Ballmer, as pushing the software giant towards a devices and services concept wasn’t considered the right way to go.

Ballmer has recently announced a new reorganization plan for Microsoft that is supposed to put both hardware and services in the spotlight, as the CEO believes that the company needs to invest more in non-software areas.

The whole transformation plan is said to take about one year, so it’s probably premature to take a decision that could dramatically affect Microsoft’s future.