CEO Steve Ballmer was unable to steer the company to a position of growth, leaving Microsoft selling PC software in a post-PC world.

"They should sell tickets," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, a former federal prosecutor who speaks often about the nexus of fame and felony.

He talks to Markus Dohle — the CEO of Random House, the biggest of the big six publishers — about why his company is selling e-books only with Amazon and not with Apple.