Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates handed the reigns to Steve Ballmer in January 2000.

Today, the company announced Ballmer will retire within 12 months, and Microsoft stock has surged on the news.

That can't feel good if you're Ballmer. Under his 13-year leadership, Microsoft stock has fallen over 40%.

Though, Ballmer came in at the peak of the market bubble. He really had nowhere to go but down (the NASDAQ composite is down around 10% over the same time period).

And in the last 10 years, the company has also returned billions of dollars to shareholders in buybacks and dividends.

Here's the chart of Microsoft stock during the Ballmer era.