Video: Ballmer's wild entrance at Microsoft's company meeting

Update Looks like the person who posted this publicly had second thoughts after it started to be viewed publicly (funny how that happens), and switched it to allow only private viewing on YouTube. We'll let you know if it resurfaces elsewhere.

Is Steve Ballmer admirably enthusiastic, or is his cheerleading too much following the company's unprecedented layoffs and cutbacks?

Whatever your opinion, there's no disputing that he can still make a big entrance. The video above shows the 53-year-old Microsoft CEO making his way to the stage at the company's private meeting Thursday at Safeco Field in Seattle -- sprinting around the infield, pumping his arms, slapping hands, and generally whooping it up as thousands of the company's employees cheer him on from the stands.

This particular video doesn't show the iPhone incident -- we're still hoping to get our hands on a video clip of that -- but it does provide a sense for the tone leading up to that now-infamous encounter.

It would be interesting to hear from Microsoft employees: Is this kind of entrance by Ballmer inspiring, embarrassing, or something else?

Also see a recap of the meeting from Mini-Microsoft, the anonymous employee blogger who had been hoping for a "serious wrap-up" from the Microsoft CEO.

About Todd Bishop

Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.

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