Out with the old, in with the … old
Of course, Bill Gates’ retirement from Microsoft hasn’t been news for a while now, but Newsweek has a nice piece up about his last keynote at CES wherein, “Gates did explicitly acknowledge that this was the last time he’d be keynoting” [#].
But is it?
Part of me thinks that maybe he’ll get bored over at the Foundation and eventually come back to Microsoft in some capacity. A thought that is bouyed by the news also released today that Howard Schultz will be returning to Starbucks [nyt]. Does this mean Dunkin Donuts is on notice?
Well, Bill Gates has already announced that he’s remaining at Microsoft in one capacity. He’s not giving up his seat as chairman of the board.
Beyond that, who knows? But the rumor mill has said for years that Melinda has been, ahem, strongly encouraging Bill to knock off the Microsoft stuff and devote his full energies to the foundation. The Gates Foundation has to figure out how to spend between $2 billion and $3 billion this year alone in ways that will have maximum global impact. It’s not a small problem.