In a recent conversation with Monica Langley of WSJ, former Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) chairman and chief executive has spoken about a number of things. While Ballmer is presently the owner of the National Basketball Association team, Los Angeles Clippers, and has his sights fixed there, he still talks about technology and his time at Microsoft.
Below are some of the things that Steve Ballmer talked about.
Technology in Basketball
When asked if he had folded up his hands with respect to technology, he stated that was not the case. In fact, he has been learning more about technology just as much as he’s spent time preparing for the Clipper’s opening game. Steve talks about the six cameras that are generally present in every NBA arena’s ceiling and how a technology startup in Los Angeles monitors them. Video analysis helps one learn how the actual plays on the court are like, and further categorizes them. Sports analytics have already been using them so far, and Ballmer wants the fans to use them too. They can pick their favorite piece of action and then put them up on the Jumbotron.
Ballmer then goes on to talk about distribution. At present, the LA Clippers have got Fox as their partners and it has been a good relationship between the two. However, he also talks about digital distribution, which has been much of a recent talk on the Internet, and how it would be a model that they could try to implement. About the nit bits of the process, Ballmer thinks, is better left to the business arrangement. He also mentions that all of this is important, and shall be discussed as they look to moving forward.
On his time at Microsoft and the future
Ballmer points out how he was actually tired of looking back into his time, but says that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) did make a profit of $250 billion in the last 14 years. He points out that his time at the company did deliver the bottom line. He then goes on to mention that even though they were innovative, there were areas where they could have done more.
Finally, he mentions that his successor has inherited a business that has about $90 billion in cash and also among the best of hardware and software teams to work with. So it would be worth seeing what his successor made of it.
