Bill Gates, Ballmer sued over IE browser glitch

Microsoft Corp is facing a lawsuit over the manner it handled an error with its Internet Explorer browser that cost the company a record-breaking $731 million by way of a fine levied by European antitrust regulators, Reuters reports.

In the lawsuit, brought by shareholder Kim Barovic in federal court in Seattle yesterday, directors and executives, including founder Bill Gates and former chief executive officer Steve Ballmer are charged with failing to manage the company properly.

Also the board has been charged with launching an investigation that was ''insufficient'' to determine how the miscue occurred, the report said.

The legal action comes as the first into an episode which was humiliating for Microsoft, and which the software company never fully explained but only accounted for only as a "technical error."