as ballmer's rival."alysts call sinofsky's departure "a negative," that he "rescued windows following vista." if there was acrimony, sinfosky didn't hint at it, saying his departure "was a personal and private choice that in no way reflects any speculation or theories one might read - about me, opportunity, the company, or its leadership." but sinofsky is the last of five operating unit heads ballmer's replaced in the last five years. "what ballmer is doing is trying to create an organization that's more apple-like under steve jobs." in a statement, ballmer called it "imperative that we continue to drive allignment across all microsoft teams and have more integrated and rapid development systems for our offerings." observers see microsoft in transition increasing control over its products. "microsoft is building against an apple model that produces everything - the 'surface' tablet is an example of that and i think you'll see them producing more hardware going forward." sinofsky is now replaced by the lea

[applause] >> and to introduce our next panelist, i would like to welcome steve ballmer, senior bp -- vp. >> good morning and thank you. next up is governor hickel lipper -- hickenlooper. he is the serieaal a entreprener each of you have in your respective parts. he became very successful in the brew pub business. he never had a single election not even for stink -- a student council. governor? [applause] in keeping with the discussion, he is keen on innovation and things of that nature. i know that will come out. thank you, governor. >> are we all set? i am from the "mercury news," and we're here because we live in a global cloueconomy. it has altered local economies because so many manufacturing and technology jobs are moving, whether it is a matter of costs for going where the trained work force is. we're fortunate to have to governors here to talk about how that change affects their jobs and what they're doing to jump- start their economies which compete with one another. this could be fun. let me start with our guest. governor hickenlooper. i knew that was going to happen. most o

the 23-year veteran was widely seen as a possible successor to microsoft ceo steve ballmer. >>> antivirus software billionaire john mcafee is wanted for questioning in the murder of his name in belise. police say mcafee is the prime suspect. his company was sold to intel in 2011 for over $7 billion. >>> more than 400,000 people have signed a petition asking macy's to cut ties with donald trump. a new macy's holiday ad reportedly makes light of trump's support of the so-called birther movement which questioned president obama's citizenship by showing him tugging on santa's beard to make sure it's him. >>> research in motion is awaiting the blackberry ten operating system. motor 10 has named tesla model s the 2013 car of the year. >>> coming up, an arizona woman runs over her husband with an suv for not voting. this is serious. >>> plus, nascar's jeff gordon will be writing a very big check over this fight. you're watching "early today." >>> plenty of other stories making news early today in america. we begin with new developments surrounding a deadly explosion that decimated an indianapoli

ballmer?y given that this gentleman has now exited and he was one time that people bandied about. >> it's a logical question. he's my age. >> you're young. >> thank you. >> we wouldn't talk about it if not for the fact that the stock lost all gains it made in the first three months of the year when we thought it was out of being dead. now it's back to being dead. those talks resume. >> i agree. i don't know. it's discouraging if you work there or a shareholder. >> fiscal cliff there and it survived. 2009 fiscal cliff. came back. windows cliff. >> die another day. >> president obama meeting with business leaders tomorrow in washington to discuss the fiscal cliff. why are bank ceos not attending? we'll explore that question but first -- >> announcer: coming up, we're all artists in some capacity. some bigger than others. cramer's talent lies in the markets. he'll show it off with six stocks in 60 seconds when "squawk on the street" returns. frank, instead of scratching your way to retirement, ge

so you wonder, is it just the personality conflict with ballmer? and they've been together for a long, long time. so i don't think it's really it, or is there something wrong with the launch, not getting off as microsoft hoped. i know it's a cheap stock, nothing's changed, it's got a big yield, nothing's changed. to me, you're marking time in the stock. dan talks about telecom equipment. i think most of the stocks are commodity-type stocks like. >> rks dsu. i would rather go with our old standby, qualcomm. i would rather go with sky works, who reported a disappointing quarter, but still has tremendous growth as they pick up market share. why are they building up market share? they're building up usage of mobile pads, smartphones. >> joe tera nova has been putting things to work in apple. you're looking to tech, just not microsoft. >> i'm not looking to microsoft, i'm not looking to intel, i'm not looking to hewlett-packard. we've talked about that over the last couple of months. that story has passed, this is about sky works, sandisk, apple, sirius

we gave ballmer a pass on this because there's doubts about window 8. >> all the excitement from the stock, from 26 all the way into the 30s was about a product cycle. pc upgrade cycle. they don't exist, people. at the end of the day when you look at large enterprises they don't even have the last version of windows on their systems right now. to me, if that was why you're buying the stock, that wasn't a great reason. when you think about the acquisitions they made, innovate, compete with companies like apple they're incapable of doing it. at the end of the day, other than xbox, there was a lot of false hope. if you're buying the stock, $55 billion in cash, it's a great place to park cash. that's fine. it looks like a bond in some ways. don't buy it because you expect them to innovate on the product line. >> the other thing i think that's going on here is people felt there was going to be some transition for microsoft and the touch hardware. the transition i think people felt was going to bring microsoft up to the table with apple and make this operating system that much more relevan

some reports say san nof ski may have had troubles in his relations with steve ballmer and other executives. in his statement, the 47-year-old executive thanked for what he called the countless blessings he received at microsoft. he also expressed his appreciation for the professionalism of workers at the company. san nof ski led the development of the surface tablet as well as windows 8. he was seen as a candidate for ceo in the future. >>> now, let's get a check on the markets. european shares are traceding lower. here is a picture of how the benchmarks are performing now. we're seeing losses across the board down about 1%. london ftse 100 is down about .9%. and the dax down about 1%. and in paris, the crack 40 is down by 1%. investors are becoming less willing to take risk because a decision on the bailout fund for greece has been put off till next week. in tokyo the nikkei extended losses to seven days. chinese stocks were treated because of fierce that the on going communist party congress would make little change in economic policies. let's have a look at currencies. the euro is losin

lori: steve versus steve, microsoft's ceo steve ballmer and windows chief steve singofski. 23 america south veteran coming. let's take a look at some movers in today's session, the doubt 33. some as the movers, southwestern energy, 6.7% gain, western union, all topping 3%. lori: quiet day for the markets but let's check to see what stocks are up to. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange with nicole petallides. bank ceos are talking fiscal cliff. nicole, are you there for us? she is busy studying for the next report. let's get you updated on the markets. the dow is at 12,847 meeting in washington that charlie was talking about. melissa: that's right. about a quarter of a percent there on the markets. so after a 23 year career with microsoft, windows chief abruptly quicks only two weeks after the windows 8 launch. joining me with more an analyst on his sudden departure. did this one catch you by surprise? >> sure. whenever you see a departure of that senority that magnitude, particularly after launch of some important products which he was in charge of, yeah, i think th

the question which i asked steve ballmer have sales been he would not give specific numbers but said they have been modest and is one of those devices you have to play with. dave: it is not so much the device itself. the device is important but the windows application. >> one of my friends wrote a great piece talking about you are not buying hardware that much anymore. apple makes the most beautiful hardware and spend a lot of time on design. it is this offer you're buying into now. do you want to buy into the windows experience? they you have a lot of stuff you need to do on office and xl? xl is a must for business. all businesses operate on xl spread sheet. if you need you need windows. dave: let's cut to the case with the software is which allows you to touch the screen which is something you use to not be able to do. >> i'm a little confused by what microsoft has been trying to do. you can touch the screen. that is great but when you decide to go to the keyboard or use a mouse it feels on. when you are using the touch experience it makes a lot of sense. dave: you can touch or the

but instead, sinofsky is out and steve ballmer remains the c.e.o. >> the more broad implication is, windows 8 was just released. this is a product that is supposed to change the future of microsoft, change its fortunes, and now the person behind its development is leaving. that's an ominous sign for investors. >> reporter: another troubling sign is the explosive growth of tablet computers and smartphones, stealing traditional desktop computer sales and the $75 licensing fee microsoft receives for every windows p.c. sold. >> microsoft's business model is just fundamentally broken for a mobile age, and that's not something someone like a steven sinofsky leading an engineering team on windows can fix. >> reporter: the stock reaction was negative. microsoft shares fell to their lowest price since january. sinofsky will be replaced by two women who worked with him. he's the second high-level executive to leave a technology giant in as many weeks. the head of apple's iphone software unit left in a management shake-up late last month. >> susie: want more evidence that a housing recovery is under w

that's part of the look. >> i think that's part of the look. >> i'm not sure ballmer does that. >> yourone. >> obviously. >> because we are not very testosterone heavy. >> i'm aware. >> not my fault. >>> more from our guest host steven roach a senior fellow at yale university and former executive at morgan stanley and a market master. >> always a market master. >> you've been listening this the whole morning through telling us where you see things headed it's a gloomy outlook when you start looking down the road with or without the fiscal cliff. what does that mean for the markets at some point? >> the gloomy global growth, becky, will be driving gloomy global earnings and markets were certainly worried about the earnings outlook for 2013 with good reason. but the cynic in me says that's what this fiscal cliff is all about, get people really worked up about the fact that we're going to go off the cliff and go into recession, cut a last-minute deal and the markets which have discounted the worst case fiscal cliff scenario will surge on the basis hey maybe it's not as bad as we thought.

washington's plans for an interim missile defense system in europe are still very much on the table what mr ballmer could do he has. said that evolution should have. brought them in so i don't think he can do a border that don't have problems will not lead him too much to do perhaps the expectations for mr obama were too high and from the start despite positive aspirations and ideas as president of the united states barack obama's amish heavily depends on the washington spirals east and the image of his country in the world more controversial at best but if he does manage to win a second term in office it's clear the yes we can euphoria is gone and this time the world isn't a scheme to believe in his promises it's going off or to moscow well to discuss the prospects for america's foreign policy i'm joined live now by a london based author and journalist afshin rattansi russian understand you covered the last us election from iran so we'll talk about the iranian issue in just a moment but first washington about what it calls democratic change in the arab world and liberated libya and egypt from long

washington's plans for a lengthy missile defense system in europe are still very much on the table what mr ballmer could do his. i mean he said the revolution should have. brought them in so i don't think that he can do aboard that don't have problems will not let him too much to do perhaps the expectations for mr obama were to point from the start despite positive aspirations and ideas as president of the united states barack obama's image heavily depends on the washington spirals ease and the image of his country in the world both are controversial at best but if he does manage to win a second term in office it's clear the yes we can your for you is gone and this time the world is a scheme to believe in his promises. or to moscow and we continue live coverage of the u.s. presidential election throughout the day here on our see that will be including up plenty of expert opinion and analysis of course both on air and online and more news also coming your way here r.t. that will be after a short break too if you can stay with us. the six america votes for its next president. who take the wheel as t

that's gates and microsoft president steve ballmer in a film produced for a shareholders' meeting. >> way. >> ♪ what is love ♪ baby don't hurt me >> gates is best known not for a sense of humor but for being intensely driven. here he is at full throttle about five years ago. >> no, no, no, no, no. somebody's confused. somebody's just not thinking. i mean, there's no way. no, you don't understand. you didn't--you guys never understood. you never understood the first thing about this. >> until recently, business was his obsession. he says now, thanks to his wife melinda, he has finally started to mellow. >> and i'm more lucky in terms of having melinda than anything else in my life. >> than anything in your life. >> oh, yes. >> ♪ when i fall in love >> melinda french was an executive at microsoft when they met. they were married on new year's day 1994. the biggest misconception about you, just--that just you read it, and you say, "they're dead wrong." >> there was one that really bothered me, where a guy wrote a story saying that i had a prenuptial agreement with melinda, and he just fi

microsoft though one of the losers after the ceo steve ballmer made some comments that its surface tabletodest start to sales. elsewhere we're seeing big moves in biotech and pharma. gillead shares are up showing one of its hepatitis treatments had a high cure rate. abbott also presented promising hepatitis c data. analysts say hepatitis c could become a $19 billion market by 2020. while there are already drugs on the market to treat it, there is a strong demand for an easier to take all-pill treatment with fewer side effects. >>> as we have been reporting, the fiscal cliff would mean big tax changes at the end of the year and many with with money are not waiting to find out what happens on the fiscal cla cliif. they are trying to move now to avoid higher taxes then. robert frank is here with me. you've been looking at some of the big deals that are sort of being accelerated here in advance of what might happen. >> many of the wealthy have become sellers after this election. they're selling stocks, they're selling real estate and some of them are even selling their companies. the reason -

that stock down on some comments around the surface tablet from ceo steve ballmer.e told a french paper that the launch has been "modest." some interpret that to mean maybe sales were weak though microsoft contacted us and say, there may have been some mistranslation. he could have meant modest in terms of the way they did it. it's lost $3 a share since mid-september. >>> apple is down even though it reached a global patent settlement with htc. reports out after korean paper that samsung may have increased the price of processors for the ipad and iphone by nearly 20%. that story came to us via the blog theverge.com. it could hurt profit margins and shows the real risk of that friendmys relationship between samsung and apple. >>> a pancreatic cancer drug trial where survival rates rose in one of the deadliest forms of cancer. celgene was added to top picks live at citigroup. >>> rim we finally have a date. blackberry 10 will be launched january 30th. the first time we've got an firm date from research in mowing. the stock up 3.4%. >>> j2.com is buying internet media

>> yeah, and ballmer is the guy, not sure people would say here is your product visionary for putting together. they have not been pulling their offerings together well. the online offerings not big rock stars, not a big part of this company's success, pouring money into them, little avail. what has to happen, he needs to find and clear the way for someone to pull the vision together. the successor to sip november ski you julie larson green, is known as having a hole listic view deep roots in the windows team and recent filings indicate they will handle compensation and bone us in more on a cohesive company-white model, not just bayou knit. >> okay, so some people perhaps are thinking, band and by some people, i mean me, you can read into this departure as maybe being a sign that microsoft is not going to be happy with what they see from windows 8. doesn't necessarily sound like you agree with that? >> too early too say windows 8 is a hit or a flop, either way. microsoft windows editions have these incredibly long tails. xp, vista, windows 7, they all feather out together in the marke

one night, he passed by gates' office and overheard him talking with steve ballmer, who'd been hiredompany. what were they saying? >> they were basically talking about how they were planning to dilute my share down to almost nothing. and it was a really shocking and disheartening moment for me. >> and you were sick. >> i think i was still probably in the middle of radiation therapy. >> he burst in and interrupted them. he says they were trying to cut him out and rip him off. >> and of course, steve came over to my house later that night to apologize. >> he did? >> he did. >> but bill didn't come. >> no, he sent steve. >> he sent steve. it wasn't steve. he sent steve. >> well... steve's the one who came. >> shortly after, allen left, but he got to hold on to all his shares. it's hard to feel sorry for him. he was 30, cured of cancer, and owned nearly a third of microsoft. so you built this building? >> yeah. >> after the company went public, allen became one of the richest men on earth, at one point worth an estimated $40 billion. gates would spend another two decades running microsof

dividend paid this year to avoid what may be higher taxes this year and we've got bill gates and steve ballmershare moerld questions at microsoft's annual meeting today. below $27 a share, i'd love to ask a question. better than expected outlook for the apparel retailer and better than expected green mountain coffee, that thing is up. 22% the gain. 57 down for the dow. it's another sign that housing could be bouncing back. sales of luxury homes rising, but price down. and two luxly houses were sold after they were significantly marked down. ♪ >> let's go fast through this. the dow jones industrial average is down 57 points. more importantly, the price of oil is sharply lower. down a buck 38, $85 a barrel and more importantly, the your morning gold report way down, and buy the gold coins for christmas, on. sales of homes, people look for good investments and also, many of the expensive homes are much cheaper than they used to be. and joining us, she's going to show us two homes, and welcome back. i've got to start with the first house in phoenix, sold, i believe, in july of this year, 960,000 b

here is a quote we got from steve ballmer "it is imperative that we continue to drive a lineman acrosssoft aims and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offspring." investors do not like the departure, but will the microsoft company be able to recover. back to you. connell: that is very good, adam. i guess we will cross them off as our future ceos of microsoft. dagen: new york residents are fed up with the utility companies quick response. they are taking action themselves. connell: another day, another title for apple. that tech giant is even meeting tiffany in the ranks. dagen: timothy burns -- ken burns will be here. and how the history of sex this year's election people worried about the -- not even close. ♪ i'm a conservative investor. i invest in what i know. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sur but, there's no reward without it. i want to be prepared for the long haul. i see a world bursting with opportunities. india, china, brazil, ishares, small-caps, large-caps, ishares. industrials. low cost. every dollar coun

because the executive who was expected to be next in line to lead the company after steve ballmer hassuddenly. and steve sinonsky, windows 8 unveiled next week, is his quitting a signal it's not successful? and video game halo 4, 220 million, one game, one day, not enough to make up for sinofsky's leaving. we'll follow this throughout the program. and remember, i do own some microsoft stock. coming up next, the opening bell this tuesday morning, we're going to be down. having y ship my gifts couldn't be easier. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and my daughter loves the santa. oh, ah sir. that is a customer. let's not tell mom. [ malannouncer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office. >> one week after the election, it looks like the market will open lower again this tuesday morning. probably down about 80, maybe 90 points in the very early going and that means that the dow is off roughly 500 points since election day of the what's the problem? a lot of people do not like what they see coming up in the second obama term. especially the tax rate on dividends go up and a

at the -- has been at microsoft since 1989 and was considered heir apparent by many to ceo steve ballmer continue their search at first light for two stranded snowboarders on mount rainier in washington state. they say they spotted the two men last night but darkness and bad weather forced them away. derrick tindall and thomas deal had to spend a second night on that mountain. they called 911 sunday to report they were trapped in a blizzard. let's go straight to rob marciano. conditions on the mountain have to be tough right now. what can they expect at daylight breaks? >> more snow, more wind. they're at about the 7,000 foot mark. here on the radar you see it filling in. mount rainier right about there. again at 7,000 foot elevation, pretty much all snow, heavy, wet, cold snow, for sure. so they'll be dealing with that. they built a snow cave so they certainly have some survival instincts and training and likely will do okay as long as the rescue crews, and there's a couple dozen of them that are helping out here, will be able to get up there and find those guys and get them down to saf