Big changes are ahead for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Last year, the company’s current chief executive officer announced his plan to retire sometime within the year.
Microsoft to get new CEO
Although there hasn’t been a whole lot of talk about Steve Ballmer’s upcoming exit and subsequent replacement, it has remained on the minds of many. Now it looks like we may find out who the next CEO will be next week and we also have some predictions of who it might be.
Recode’s Kara Swisher thinks it could be Satya Nadella, who is currently executive vice president of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Cloud and Enterprise. His knowledge of the company, strong technical background, and varied jobs within the company give him a huge advantage. Nadella started working for Microsoft over twenty years ago. Prior to that, he worked with Sun Microsystems.
The search continues
Other possible insiders include Steve Elop (Nokia’s leading executive) and Tony Bates (executive vice president for Business Development, Strategy, and Evangelism). Although sources claimed neither executive has been updated recently in the search, they aren’t exactly out of the running either.
Swisher added, “So far, that effort has been a bust for directors as possible candidates — such as Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s Alan Mulally, Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)’s Steve Mollenkopf and Ericsson (ADR) (NASDAQ:ERIC)’s Hans Vestberg — have loudly dropped out of the race, either publicly or via well-placed leaks. But no new names have emerged of late, which either means the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) board is really good at keeping secrets (they’re not!) or that there is no viable outside candidate ready. Maybe the directors will surprise us all with some spectacular move — buy Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and let Marissa Mayer deal with an even bigger mess? — but the odds of that happening seem to be dwindling.”
There is also the possibility an outsider could take the CEO position. In the meantime, Microsoft employees are tired of waiting and hope the search ends soon.
