Lest we forget the Microsoft antitrust trial of the late 1990s, it’s not a foregone conclusion that deposing a powerful CEO leads to their downfall. “I don’t remember” is a frequent answer that deponents give that is both frustrating and incontrovertible.
Gates was deposed in summer 1998 and did a famously horrible job. He stepped down as CEO in January 2000. Microsoft struggled for relevance beyond Windows/Office for the next decade or so.
