November 17, 2013.

Ballmer on Ballmer: His Exit From Microsoft

"I didn't want to say anything in the lane,' she went on, "in case there's a mike hidden there. I don't suppose there is, but there could be. There's always the chance of one of those swine recognizing your voice. We're all right here."

REDMOND, Wash.----Steve Ballmer paced his corner office on a foggy January morning here, listening through loudspeakers to his directors' voices on a call that would set in motion the end of his 13-year reign as Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT -0.47%  chief executive.

He still had not the courage to approach her. 'We're all right here?' he repeated stupidly.

Microsoft lagged behind Apple Inc. AAPL -0.60%  and Google Inc. GOOG -0.16%  in important consumer markets, despite its formidable software revenue. Mr. Ballmer tried to spell out his plan to remake Microsoft, but a director cut him off, telling him he was moving too slowly.

"Yes. Look at the trees." They were small ashes, which at some time had been cut down and had sprouted up again into a forest of poles, none of them thicker than one's wrist. "There's nothing big enough to hide a mike in. Besides, I've been here before."

"Hey, dude, let's get on with it," lead director John Thompson says he told him. "We're in suspended animation." Mr. Ballmer says he replied that he could move faster.