Microsoft reportedly ready to name new CEO, may replace Bill Gates as chairman

Satya Nadella. | Source: Microsoft

After months of searching, Microsoft is reportedly on the verge of naming Satya Nadella as CEO, while the company's board mulls replacing Bill Gates as chairman.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports the seat left vacant by former CEO ">Steve Ballmer will be filled from within by Nadella, the Redmond, Wash., tech giant's head of enterprise and cloud operations.

While plans are not finished, Nadella was revealed as a candidate at the end of 2013 and sources claim he is one of the stronger picks to come out of Redmond's stable.

If Nadella is named CEO, it will end a months-long search headed by lead independent director John Thompson. A number of high-profile candidates were passed over for the role, including Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Considered one of the top outside picks, Mulally ultimately removed himself from the running.

In addition to the CEO nomination, Microsoft's board is also considering a replacement for co-founder Gates, who is currently acting as company chairman. Details are scarce, but the publication mentions independent director John Thompson as a possible candidate for the role.

Gates may not be completely locked out Microsoft, and he could remain active in the company as long as the board and as-yet-unannounced CEO deem it appropriate, sources said.

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60 Comments

hydr

said about 10 years ago

Microsoft is in a terrible position right now. They are making decent profit on business tools/services, but consumers are going elsewhere.

I think we are at the peak of microsoft, and the decline is about to hit hard in the coming 10 years. It does not matter who leads msft, it´s monopoly is falling apart without them being able to control or stop it. It´s done.

tallest skil

said about 10 years ago

Originally Posted by hydr

Microsoft is in a terrible position right now. They are making decent profit on business tools/services, but consumers are going elsewhere.

I know. Isn’t it great?!

rogifan

said about 10 years ago

This would make Microsoft fanboys happy as they wanted an engineer at the top and Nadella is an engineer. Cloud is huge right now and is a Microsoft business that is doing well so it sounds like a good pick.

dimmok

said about 10 years ago

Even there shiny XBox One is taking hits to the armor from PS4%u2026.

aaronj

said about 10 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogifan

But does any of that really matter in the end? MS makes money licensing Windows and Office. That's it. They've tried many, many different ways of changing their model, but it will never change. If legacy enterprise users keep paying for Windows and Office, they will be fine. If, some day, that stops happening, they will be dead.

That's pretty much it. You could choose a random person off the street to run the company, and things would be no different.