Microsoft ‘backs Ballmer’ after resignation plea

Microsoft’s nine-person board, which includes co-founder Bill Gates, is supporting its under-fire CEO Steve Ballmer, reports suggest.

An “inside source” told Reuters that the company is fully behind its longstanding boss.

Microsoft has declined comment.

The move comes after David Einhorn, an influential hedge fund manager, called for Ballmer to go.

He accused the Microsoft boss of being stuck in the past.

"His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft’s stock," Einhorn said at an investment conference in New York.

Reuters claims the comments “echo what some investors have said for some years in private”.

Microsoft shares rose 2 per cent on Thursday.