Bitter Former CEO Steve Ballmer Calls Microsoft Profits Bull****

Steve Ballmer loves having a pop at his old company. The former Microsoft CEO – but still a majority shareholder – takes any opportunity to put the boot into his successor, Satya Nadella, as he did recently when dismissing the company’s aim to create a new generation of universal apps that run on phones, tablets, and computers alike.

Now, at a shareholder’s meeting on Wednesday, Ballmer lost his temper with Nadella, shouting that Microsoft’s key strategy “won’t work” and calling its financial reporting “bull****,” according to Bloomberg.

“They should report the revenue, not the run rate,” Ballmer said during the meeting, calling the use of the run rate to supposedly obfuscate the real figures “bull****.”

Microsoft refused to rise to Ballmer’s inflammatory posturing, with Chris Suh, General Manager for Investor Relations for Microsoft, saying, “We enjoy a regular dialogue with Steve, and welcome his input and feedback, as we do from our other investors.” said.

Ballmer seems bitter that the company he left flailing after an unsuccessful 12 months at the helm is thriving without him – Windows 10 is the company’s most successful operating system yet – and resents Nadella for changing the strategies he put in place, such as his plans for the Windows Phone.

But even when he’s happy, he does love a good shout, that Ballmer…

Image courtesy of Computer World.