KEY POINTS:
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 over the 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.
Google's own blog was gushing when a judge ordered that Lee could work for the company.
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.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
