e world’s desktop computers” (Smith 14).
In a 5 cassette narrative titled Microsoft First Generation: The Success Secrets of the Visionaries Who Launched A Technology Empire, journalist Cheryl Tang interviews twelve former Microsoft employees and reveals their recollections about the formative days of the most successful technology company in the world. Tsang (Farris 153) deduces from these tales that there are four key factors responsible for Microsoft’s and Bill Gates’ unprecedented business success:
Microsoft’s famous maniacal work either
Microsoft’s emphasis on risk taking
Microsoft’s unwavering drive to succeed
Microsoft’s unique internal culture mainly influenced by the even more unique personality of CEO Gates
Another reason for Bill Gates’ unprecedented success is his ability to overcome obstacles, reduce the competition to helplessness, and the ability to survive adversity. The downturn in the economy in 2000, particularly the downturn in technology stocks and dot-coms, had an enormous impact on Microsoft stock which “plunged from an all-time high of 120 to a low of 40, taking with it the hopes and dreams of many option-holding employees, not to mention a big chunk of Gates’ personal fortune” (Yang 38). This downturn came quick on the heels of an unfavorable decision against Microsoft in federal court which ordered the corporation be split into two entities in light of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s ruling that the company was in violation of antitrust law.
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