Steven Anthony Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) is an American businessman and has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. Ballmer is the second person after Roberto Goizueta to become a billionaire in U.S. dollars based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In Forbes 2008 World's Richest People ranking, Ballmer was ranked the 43rd richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion.Fact: date=May 2009

Family

Ballmer was born into a Jewish family living in Detroit. On October 4, 2007, Ballmer was awarded honorary citizenship of Lausen, Switzerland. His father had worked in Belgium as a manager at Ford Motor Co in the 1960s. In 1990 Ballmer married Connie Snyder, who was on Microsoft's PR team at the Waggener Group in the '80s. They have three children. Ballmer's maternal grandparents lived in Pinsk, Belarus.

Pre-Microsoft & Life History

Steve Ballmer was born March 24, 1956, to a Swiss father and a Jewish-American mother whose family came from the Eastern European city of Pinsk (today in Belarus). He grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 1973, he graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a high school, and now sits on its board of directors. In 1977, he graduated from Harvard University

Microsoft career

Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980. , and became Microsoft's 24th employee, the first business manager hired by Gates. Fact: date=August 2008 He was initially offered a salary of $50,000 as well as a percentage of ownership of the company. When Microsoft was incorporated in 1981, Ballmer owned 8 percent of the company. He has headed several divisions within Microsoft including "Operating Systems Development", "Operations", and "Sales and Support." In January 2000, he was officially named chief executive officer. As CEO Ballmer handled company finances, however Gates still retained control of the "technological vision." In 2003, Ballmer sold 8.3% of his shareholdings, leaving him with a 4% stake in the company. The same year, Ballmer replaced Microsoft's employee stock options program. While CEO of Microsoft in 2007, Steven A. Ballmer earned a total compensation of $1,279,821, which included a base salary of $620,000, and a cash bonus of $650,000. In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $1,350,834, which included a base salary of $640,833, and a cash bonus of $700,000.

In 2009, and for the first time ever, he made the opening keynote at CES, since Bill Gates left Microsoft.

Public persona

Steve Ballmer has been known for his eccentric expressions of enthusiasm. At Microsoft's 25th anniversary celebration in 2000, Ballmer surprised the audience by popping out of the anniversary cake. His performance on stage at an employees' convention was caught on a widely-circulated video known as "Monkey Boy Ballmer." A few days later at a developers' conference, Ballmer repeatedly chanted with sweat drenched underarms "developers, developers, developers" in front of the gathering.