9 of Steve Ballmer's zaniest moments, from chanting on stage to dancing to Fergie

Sawdah BhaimiyaJan 14, 2024, 19:20 IST

Steve Ballmer is a former CEO of Microsoft.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Billionaire Steve Ballmer is known for his antics at Microsoft events in the 2000s.
The then-Microsoft CEO would often shout, run, and dance on stage at events.

Steve Ballmer – the former CEO of Microsoft and owner of the LA Clippers basketball team – is well known for his unconventional leadership style and madcap antics.

Ballmer is a longtime associate of Bill Gates and is the sixth-richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index worth about $130 billion — just two spots behind the Microsoft cofounder.

Ballmer joined Microsoft as an assistant to the president in 1980 and 20 years later climbed his way all the way to the top as CEO. He stepped down in 2014.

The billionaire was well known for his playful and energetic personality and would often shout, scream, and run around at Microsoft events, to great cheers from the crowd. His unfiltered public personality stands at odds with more conventional and controlled business leaders.

Here's nine of Ballmer's zaniest moments.

1. At a Microsoft event in the early 2000s, Steve Ballmer can be seen running around and screaming on stage before a presentation.

2. In another video, the CEO dances awkwardly with Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates at the Windows 95 launch party.

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer in 1998.Getty Images / Staff

3. He once chanted "developers" on stage while sweating profusely.

4. Ballmer took it further by screaming "web developers" repeatedly at another Microsoft conference at the request of an audience member.

5. Ballmer and Gates created a series of goofy videos together to play at Microsoft events including a parody of the 1999 film "A Night at the Roxbury."

6. Ballmer even does a great impression of Dr Evil from the "Austin Powers" films in another spoof.

7. Another of Ballmer and Gates' antics shows them going on a park "play date" where they go on slides, swings, and ride bikes.

8. In his last speech before stepping down as CEO, Ballmer cried, high-fived and fist-bumped employees, and lip synched to "The Time of My Life" from "Dirty Dancing."

Ballmer has carried on his antics as the owner of the LA Clippers basketball team. At one game he pulled out some wild dance moves to a performance by Fergie.

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