Besides external candidates, there are a few internal candidates, as well, including Microsoft's business development boss Tony Bates (former CEO of Skype) and Satya Nadella, the head of cloud and enterprise.
The list had started at about 40 names and has been pruned, say the sources, but the process will still take a few more months. Ballmer announced his retirement in August, giving a twelve months or less timeframe.
A few of the most speculated about names are Ford's Alan Mulally and Computer Sciences' Mike Lawrie, both of which are known as "turnaround experts" and have certainly done so for their respective companies. Ford called the report speculation.
Stephen Elop, who left Microsoft to run Nokia into the ground before returning after Microsoft acquired the company, is also up for the position.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 Nov 2013 17:34
