I have blogged a few times (link, link) where I compare the how MSFT is doing against the rest of the DOW. With the close on Friday the $10000 you would have invested when Steve Balmer became CEO on ~1/3/00 would now be worth $5974. Just as an asside while not part of the DOW a Yahoo! investment that same day would be worth $2913. The Microsoft investment now looks better than an investment in Intel or GM.
|
Altria Group Inc.
| MO | $34,979 |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT | $31,595 |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX | $25,323 |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM | $23,553 |
| Boeing Co. | BA | $21,937 |
| 3M Co. | MMM | $18,011 |
| American Express Co. | AXP | $16,413 |
| McDonald’s Corp. | MCD | $15,425 |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | $14,708 |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS | $14,036 |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG | $13,157 |
| Hewlett-Packard Co. | HPQ | $11,701 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM | $11,523 |
| AT&T Inc. | T | $11,463 |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO | $11,397 |
| Honeywell International Inc. | HON | $11,087 |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM | $10,056 |
| Alcoa Inc. | AA | ($378) |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ | ($923) |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK | ($1,423) |
| Citigroup Inc. | C | ($1,554) |
| General Electric Co. | GE | ($1,764) |
| E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. | DD | ($2,059) |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE | ($2,138) |
| Wal-Mart Stores Inc. | WMT | ($2,199) |
| American International Group Inc. | AIG | ($3,412) |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT | ($4,026) |
| Intel Corp. | INTC | ($4,703) |
| General Motors Corp. | GM | ($5,100) |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD | ($5,445) |
A digital recording of my life 
I think you mean "would NOW be worth $5974".If you believe the the primary job on the CEO is to create shareholder value, it\’s hard to see Ballmer\’s tenure as anything other than a complete failure. Microsoft was perhaps the most successful company in the 90s, in terms of stock growth, and has followed that up with a horrible 2000s. Ballmer and his defenders would note his tenure started at a high point for tech stocks, which is true — see Intel and Yahoo!. On the other hand, had you bought Microsoft at its bottom, you\’d still only be up 30% over six years. Some of the Dow companies have had major scandals or crises (Merck, Pfizer, AIG) and are still beating Microsoft over the period.The question is how long it takes the Board to "fire" Ballmer, which is what I think you\’re hinting at with these posts. Wal-Mart, AIG, Intel, GM, and Home Depot have hired new CEOs since Ballmer took over at Microsoft though a couple of those started in 2000 as well. Be careful what you wish for. I think Ballmer will be out in the next two or three years and the new CEO will introduce some sweeping changes, the first of which will be to lay off 20-30% of the work force.
Thanks, fixed type of "now" instead of "not"