Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is leaving the company’s board, he said in a letter posted on the company’s website Tuesday morning.
“Given my confidence and the multitude of new commitments I am taking on now, I think it would be impractical for me to continue to serve on the board, and it is best for me to move off,” he wrote to CEO Satya Nadella.
Ballmer served as the second CEO of the Redmond-based tech giant for about a decade. He left the position six months ago.
Since his departure, Nadella has been moving full steam ahead to move the company to a “mobile-first, cloud-first” world, including announcing the largest lay-offs in the firm’s history. Nadella is determined to make the giant company a cohesive beast and begin to innovate once more.
Ballmer gave several reasons for his departure in his letter including a multitude of commitments, such as his recent purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team and some teaching he has been doing.
Ballmer had already been removed from the board of director’s website Tuesday morning. The board is headed by Chairman John W. Thompson, an investor and CEO of Virtual Instruments and a former IBM executive.
