India’s Nadella, Ford CEO lead race for Microsoft CEO

[mmadhankumar]

As Microsoft's hunt for its next chief intensifies, Indian-origin cloud chief Satya Nadella and Ford CEO Alan Mulally have reportedly emerged as front runners.

According to Bloomberg, while internal candidate like Bates and Elop remain in the mix, they're currently considered less likely to be offered the job.

The software giant is looking for a suitable candidate to replace the current chief executive officer Steve Ballmer and is said to have shortlisted ex-Skype president Tony Bates and former Nokia Oyj CEO Stephen Elop along with Nadella and Mulally.

The report adds that Microsoft board is aiming to have a CEO decision this year, though an announcement could be pushed back until early next year.

At the recent annual shareholder meeting, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said that he was pleased with the company's progress in finding a new chief executive but outlined the difficulties in picking the next leader.

Gates is part of the four-man committee that gave itself a year to find a successor to Ballmer. The CEO search committee is headed by lead independent director and former IBM executive John Thompson.

Ballmer said in August he planned to retire within 12 months.

Microsoft remains profitable and last month beat Wall Street's quarterly profit and revenue forecasts. But the company has come under criticism for missing some of the largest technology shifts in the past few years from internet search to social networking, and Apple and Google are now at the vanguard of a mobile computing revolution that is eroding its core PC-based business.


India’s Nadella, Ford CEO lead race for Microsoft CEO - The Times of India