The co-founder of software giant Microsoft, Mr Bill Gates, announced last night that he was turning over the post of chief executive officer to the company's president and number two, Mr Steve Ballmer, but said he would remain chairman of the board.
News of the corporate shake-up comes as Microsoft, which employs 1,500 people in the Republic, faces court challenges to its position as the world's dominant computer software maker. The company is facing a federal antitrust suit filed by the US Justice Department and 19 US states in October 1998.
Mr Gates told a surprise press conference in Redmond, Washington that he would spend "almost 100 per cent of my time as a chief software architect".
"I'm going back to my roots, the development of software," the world's most famous billionaire said.
Mr Gates' new title will be chairman and chief software architect. He named Mr Ballmer as the company's chief executive officer.
Mr Ballmer (43), a Harvard graduate who joined Microsoft in 1980, will take over the day-today management of the company.
Mr Gates (44) said the management change would allow him to "dedicate myself full-time to my passion - building great software and strategising on the future".
Yesterday, media reports said the US Justice Department would call for Microsoft to be broken into three separate companies in an out-of-court settlement.
The Washington Post said the proposal would be presented at ongoing talks in Chicago between the US Justice Department, 19 US states and the company, which are trying to reach a deal before the antitrust trial resumes next month.
In a teleconference after the announcement, Mr Ballmer said he believed the reports were purposely leaked by Justice Department officials in the hopes of pressuring Microsoft to settle quickly.
"I believe the leaks are deliberate," Mr Ballmer said.
The talks on a settlement began last year after Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson concluded in November in preliminary "findings of fact", that Microsoft did indeed exercise monopoly power in the market for PC operating systems.
Microsoft spokesman Mr Mark Murray, quoted in the Post, branded any recommendation to split up the company "an extreme, radical proposal".
In an interview with The Irish Times last month, Mr Ballmer said Microsoft would love the settle the antitrust case. "That would be our preferred course," he said. "But certainly, we have to have the ability to add capabilities to our products that customers want. And that's one principle we are fighting for. We can compromise on a lot of other things, but that's essential."
Before moving into the president's spot, Mr Ballmer was executive vice-president of sales and support and has long been seen as the only logical choice to step in should anything happen to Mr Gates, whose stake in Microsoft is worth more than $80 billion (€77.9 billion).
Mr Ballmer, a close friend of Mr Gates from their student days at Harvard University, joined Microsoft in 1980, five years after its founding, and has run its finance, recruiting and sales operations, amassing a fortune that Forbes says makes him the fourth-richest American.
A charismatic figure at company and industry meetings with his shiny bald dome, strapping physique and booming voice, Mr Ballmer often has been described as the alter ego to the more reserved but equally intense Mr Gates.
In a written statement yesterday, Mr Gates and Mr Ballmer also announced Microsoft's plans to assemble the first Internet-based platform of Next Generation Windows Services which will power new products and services.
