They were frustrated by his tendency to talk more than listen, the people said, and his reaction to the pushback on Nokia was for some the last straw. The board rejected the first deal as too expensive and complex, including not only the handset division but also a mapping unit Microsoft didn’t need. Even without maps, Fitch Ratings called the price “excessive” in a note yesterday, citing a deterioration in the user base for Windows-based phones.
Even chairman Bill Gates and present Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were against Nokia deal and Nadella changed his mind only later about buying Nokia’s devices division.
Several directors and co-founder and then-Chairman Bill Gates — Ballmer’s longtime friend and advocate — initially balked at the move into making smartphones, according to people familiar with the situation. So, at first, did Nadella, signaling his position in a straw poll to gauge executives’ reaction to the deal. Nadella later changed his mind.
Ballmer, according to the report was the real force behind Microsoft ultimately sealing the deal with Nokia and ironically, the rift between him and the board over Nokia deal may have hastened his retirement.
Ballmer was so loud that day in June his shouts could be heard outside the conference room. people with knowledge of the matter said. He’d just been told the board didn’t back his plan to acquire two Nokia units, according to people with knowledge of the meeting. He later got most of what he wanted, with the board signing off on a $7.2 billion purchase of Nokia’s mobile-phone business, but by then the damage was done.
