Steve Ballmer has suggested that he could walk away from his seat on the Microsoft board.
Ballmer was replaced as CEO by Satya Nadella in February, but retains his seat on the board, as well as a sizeable shareholding in the company. His 4% stake makes him the second biggest individual shareholder, after Bill Gates.
However, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ballmer has suggested that he might be tempted to walk away from the company he has served for the past 33 years.
"It really as much as anything depends on how I see rest of my life playing out," Ballmer explained, when asked how long he intends to serve on the Microsoft board, adding that he now had a "chance to really think" about what he does next.
Ballmer admitted that it felt "different" taking a quieter, backseat role during board meetings. "I didn't talk like I did when I was CEO," he said.
Ballmer and Bill Gates both faced calls to resign from the board last summer after Ballmer announced his plans to retire as CEO, with three of Microsoft's top 20 investors suggesting that the pair would stand in the way of the fundamental change required at the company.
The pair were comfortably re-elected to the board in November, although Ballmer had the lowest support of any of the candidates, with 91% of the voting shareholders backing his candidacy. Bill Gates won 98% support.
Few can question Ballmer's commitment to the company. He was repeatedly moved to tears when making his leaving speech to Microsoft employees last autumn.
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