Most of the 30 people employed by Microsoft when Steve Ballmer joined the company 26 years ago "weren't very good," Ballmer is quoted as saying in the Times of London today.

The Times reported on the Microsoft CEO's comments to the Institute of Directors conference in London. Ballmer aims to fire 6.5 percent of his global workforce every year, and suggested managers pick the number of reductions they think they can do better with and double it.

Ballmer told the group: "The real question is never: 'Are people not good enough?' The real question is: 'Can you do better?'"