Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told an employee that he was going to kill Google, according to documents obtained by a tech blogger.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told an employee that he was going to kill Google, according to documents obtained by a tech blogger.
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Rant-prone Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told an engineer that he was going to "f****** kill Google" according to a document obtained by a tech blog.
John Battelle's Searchblog is reporting that Ballmer was quoted a 'legal document' from the Microsoft vs Google lawsuit overthe hiring of computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee.
Lee was hired to head Google's China office, breaking a non-competition clause in his contract with Microsoft.
The software giant, not surprisingly, was unhappy with Lee's departure.
Battelle writes that the case document 'Declaration of Mark Lucovsky' was passed on by a 'reliable source'.
He provided part of the statement in his blog, quoting Lucovsky.
"Prior to joining Google, I set up a meeting on or about November 11, 2004 with Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer to discuss my planned departure....At some point in the conversation Mr. Ballmer said: "Just tell me it's not Google." I told him it was Google.
"At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office. Mr. Ballmer then said: "F****** Eric Schmidt is a f****** p***y. I'm going to f****** bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f****** kill Google." ....
"Thereafter, Mr. Ballmer resumed trying to persuade me to stay....Among other things, Mr. Ballmer told me that "Google's not a real company. It's a house of cards."
Steve Ballmer is known for over-the-top performance, and once earned the nickname Monkey Boy after a particularly boisterous display at a Microsoft event.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has worked for both Sun Microsystems and Novell.
