Poll: Microsoft Employees Not Happy with CEO Ballmer

David Einhorn's scathing criticism of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made headlines in recent days when it was suggested that Ballmer was responsible for driving Microsoft stock into the ground. Now, another sign that Microsoft's CEO may be in trouble has emerged: it seems his own employees are losing confidence in him.

The findings come to us from Glassdoor.com, a business analysis site that tracks vital statistics on big-name U.S. companies, including Intel, IBM and Boeing.

In 2008, Glassdoor.com began asking employees from many of these major firms to anonymously rate their CEOs. It seems Ballmer's not done particularly well between then and now.

Microsoft CEO Popularity Dips to 30 Per Cent

Back in 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer received a 65 per cent approval rating. Today, it's just below 30 per cent, a new low for Ballmer, whose ratings between 2008 and now have averaged 47 per cent.

The statistic is based on 1,500 employee reviews, Glassdoor says. (Source: blorge.com)

The obvious question is: how does Steve Ballmer compare to other tech big-wigs? Not particularly well, unfortunately. Apple CEO Steve Jobs can boast an astounding 97 per cent approval rating, while Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos comes in at an impressive 84 per cent. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison sits at 78 per cent, while Yahoo! chief Carol Bartz shows 58 per cent approval.

Investor Concerns Spark Decline

Reuters believes employees are losing faith in Ballmer because investors are showing disappointment in how he's running the Redmond-based software giant.

"(Ballmer's) problem isn't so much shrinking profits as a loss of investor faith in Microsoft, whose price-to-earnings ratio is one of the lowest among big companies in the United States," Reuters reported.

But Ballmer's not the only major CEO to see his popularity decline significantly since '08. John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, has seen his approval ratings plummet from 93 per cent to just 55 per cent over that period. (Source: geekwire.com)