Microsoft decided to narrow down its list of CEO candidates from 40 to five people.
Since Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's announcement in August that he will retire in a matter of 12 months, the software giant has considered a lot of names for his position.
Initially, the list had 40 names. Now, they decided to narrow it to five including outsiders Ford CEO Alan Mulally, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elon, and insiders VP for Business Development Tony Bates, VP of Cloud Enterprise Satya Nadella, and another unidentified candidate.
The information was shared by Reuters from sources familiar with the matter. According to the sources, the search committee is still talking to executives from different sectors including life sciences and consumer.
Elop nor any representative from Nokia declined to comment. Whereas, Jay Cooney, spokesperson for Ford, told Reuters, "There is no change from what we announced last November. Alan remains fully focused on continuing to make progress on our One Ford plan. We do not engage in speculation."
Mullaly has repeatedly said that he doesn't have plans of living the automaker through end of 2014. But there were rumors that he may be persuaded if a better opportunity comes in. Elop is also a strong contender as he used to be with Microsoft before he went to Nokia.
As Ballmer's retirement from the largest software company draws nearer, investors kept on pushing the board to choose an expert that will bring the company into a full spin. They strongly recommend Mulally or Mike Lawrie, CEO of Computer Sciences Corp to take over. Some investors even suggest that Bill Gates, with his new point of view towards technology, should step down from his seat because he blocks any radical changes at the company.
Microsoft is still very profitable, but, has been defeated by Apple and Google when it comes to mobile computing.
