Name: Steve Ballmer.

Background: Mr Ballmer is the son of Swiss immigrants and was brought up in Detroit, where his father worked for automobile maker Ford. While taking an applied mathematics degree at Harvard University, he became friends with fellow student Mr Bill Gates. After graduating (unlike Mr Gates, who left to form Microsoft), Mr Ballmer joined Proctor & Gamble and became well-known for his marketing skills. Later, he left to begin a business degree at Stanford University. One year in, Mr Ballmer was lured to Microsoft by Mr Gates in 1980, where he has held an array of senior positions. In July 1998, Mr Ballmer became president of the world's most powerful company, just in time to steer Microsoft through the reefs and shoals of a closely-watched antitrust suit brought by the US government.

Marital status: Mr Ballmer is married and has three children.

Why he is in the news: As Microsoft continues to meet with a settlement negotiator for the antitrust suit, Mr Ballmer paid his first visit to Microsoft's 1500-person strong Irish operations last Friday, where employees have been localising Windows 2000 for 16 of its 23 language versions.