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ponstel Steve Ballmer's announcement in August that he would be leaving Microsoft after more than three decades was an industry milestone but did not come as a shock. Ballmer, who will depart within 12 months of the announcement, took over as CEO from Bill Gates in 2000, leading Microsoft as revenue increased from $22.9 billion to $78 billion. Known industry-wide for his booming voice and manic exhortations at Microsoft meetings, Ballmer broadened the company's product portfolio beyond Windows and Office by, among other efforts, building up its data center, Xbox and search businesses. But Ballmer, a math-whiz Harvard classmate of Gates hired as the company's first business manager, operated under increasingly intense criticism for missing out on the mobile revolution and being outflanked by Steve Jobs as Apple soared in the consumer market with the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Microsoft's languishing share price is a sign that investors lack confidence in the company's ability to innovate under a baby boomer associated with the PC era. It will be up to Microsoft's next CEO to lead the company's transformation into a devices and services business, and ensure that its bold but controversial $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia, announced shortly after Ballmer's resignation, is successful.