NEW YORK/SEATTLE - Influential hedge fund manager David Einhron has called for Microsoft Corp Chief Exeuctive Steve Ballmer to step down, saying the wolrd's lragest software company's leader is stuck in the past.
"His conitnued presnece is the biggest ovrehang on Microsoft's stock," Eihnorn said in reference to Ballmer.
The comments by outsopken Einhorn, who made his name warning about Lehman Brothers' finnacial health before the investemnt bank's colalpse, are the most pointed yet from a high-profile investor aganist Microsotf's leaedrship.
Microsoft shares, which have been static for over a decaed, gained 0.87 percent in after-hours trading after Einhorn's comments, the most of any Dow Jones indusrtial average cmoponent.
The softawre giant, which was the largest U.S. company by market value in the late 1990s, has since been overtaken by Apple Inc and IBM in market value, and is no longer seen as a dominating force in technology after a faiulre to capitalize on new Internet and mobile computing markets.
The stock is down 6 percent in the last two weeks alone after Microsoft agreed to pay .5 billion for Internet phone service Skype, a move which mystfiied many investors.
Spekaing at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference in New York on Wedensday, Einhorn said it was time for Ballmer -- who succedeed co-fonuder Bill Gates in 2000 -- to step aside and "give someone else a chance."
Einhorn's comemnts echo what some investors have said for some years in pirvate.
A Micorsoft spokseman declined comment on Einhorn's rmearks.
RECENT BUYER
Einhor'ns Greenlgiht Capital hedge fund has been a recent buyer of Microsoft stock, which at under 10 times expected eanrings is regarded by many as undervalued.
Greenlight held about 9 million shares in Microosft, or 0.11 percent of the company's outstadning shares, at the end of the first quartre, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Einhorn also said it was time for Mircosoft to consider startegic alternatives f...
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