Four needling questions for Microsoft at it hosts Wall Street analysts

September 19, 2013

Microsoft will host financial analysts on Thursday for an afternoon of executive presentations and question-and-answer sessions. Here are four uncomfortable issues CEO Steve Ballmer and his lieutenants should address when they face the Wall Street crowd at the Meydenbauer Convention Center in Bellevue, Washington:-- Will Ballmer's successor be expected to toe the line and execute on the exiting CEO's vision and strategy, or will the replacement get some leeway to rethink the current plans?A sweeping and controversial corporate reorganization plan was one of Ballmer's last major moves before announcing he would retire at some undisclosed point in the coming year. While the wheels are already turning on the implementation of the changes, it's very possible Ballmer will be gone before the process is complete.Since Ballmer's reorganization has the blessing of the board, one would assume that the incoming CEO will be told to carry it out without major revisions. However, the reorganization plan hasn't exactly prompted a consensus endorsement from outside observers. After all, it seeks to unify the company even more than it is today, mesh all of its parts and make sure that, for example, the Xbox team is aware of and has input into what the SQL Server team is doing, and vice versa. Ballmer calls this the "One Microsoft" vision.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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