Once upon a time Microsoft was bullish on China.
Back in early 2010, when Steve Ballmer was CEO and Bill Gates was Chairman, Google was threatening to pull out of China because of Chinese censorship and because of what the company called Chinese government-sponsored cyberattacks. Google wasn’t alone. Other tech companies — as well as politicians like then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — were saying the same things.
Microsoft, though, was having none of it.
Ballmer told Reuters back then, “We’re attacked every day from all parts of the world and I think everybody else is, too. We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
Reuters asked Ballmer whether the company would pull out of China, and Ballmer bluntly said, “No,” adding, “I don’t understand how that helps anything. I don’t understand how that helps us and I don’t understand how that helps China.”
