Ballmer, Steven A.

1956 - Born on the 24th of March in Detroit, Michigan.

1973 - Graduated from Detroit Country Day School with a grade point average of 4.0 and was the valedictorian of his class.

1977 - Graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in applied mathematics and economics.

Ballmer worked for two years at Procter & Gamble as an assistant product manager.

1980 - Became Microsoft's 24th employee and the first business manager hired by Gates.

1981 - He was owned 8% of the Microsoft when it becomes incorporated.

Headed several divisions within Microsoft, including Operating Systems Development, Operations, and Sales and Support.

1998 - He was promoted to president of Microsoft.

2000 - Chief executive officer when Gates stepped down from that position.

Ballmer married Connie Snyder (a Microsoft employee) and has three children.

2004 - He made headlines by claiming that the most common format of music on iPods is "stolen".

2006 - Forbes magazine ranked Ballmer as the 24th richest person in the world