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On his way out, Ballmer gets low marks from Microsoft employees

Published Oct 22nd, 2013 5:15PM EDT
Microsoft CEO Ballmer Employee Approval Rating

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Steve Ballmer has been Microsoft’s CEO for more than a decade but it looks like a sizable chunk of his workforce won’t be sad to see him go next year. The Washington Post has put together a list of CEOs at major American companies based on their approval ratings at Glassdoor.com and has found that Ballmer has just a 47% approval rating, lower than every major tech CEO and lower even than Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, whose company is notorious for paying its workers no more than it absolutely has to.

Ballmer’s low marks look especially bad when compared to other tech CEOs: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg leads the pack with a 97% approval rating, followed by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo at 96%, Google CEO Larry Page at 95% and Apple CEO Tim Cook at 92%. The only big-name tech CEO that came close to Ballmer’s 47% rating was eBay CEO John Donahoe, who scored a 58% approval rating.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.