Steve Ballmer just made $625 million by firing himself

Hats off to me!
Hats off to me!
Image: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
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Since Steve Ballmer’s announcement this morning that he’s stepping down as CEO of Microsoft in the next 12 months, the company’s stock has popped more than 8%. Ballmer is Microsoft’s second-largest individual shareholder, with 333,252,990 shares, which means his $16 billion net worth just appreciated $625 million. Bill Gates, Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder, just added $741 million to his $71.3 billion kitty.

Ballmer says he is “emotional” about saying farewell to Microsoft.