Microsoft's Steve Ballmer won't be heading up the company for much longer, leaving his post later this year. The company is currently looking for a replacement and rumours have pointed the finger at numerous potential candidates, including both Stephen Elop at Nokia and Ford's Alan Mulally.
Mulally has previously denied any plans to move to Microsoft and once again the Ford CEO shoots down any reports he may be leaving Ford for Redmond's CEO position in an interview with Associated Press.
In the interview, Mulally reaffirmed plans to stay at Ford at least through 2014. We're back to square one with Stephen Elop still on the rumoured list, alongside the likes of Microsoft Executive VP Tony Bates and Cloud and Enterprise Chief Satya Nadella. Microsoft is expected to reach a decision later this year.
Source: Associated Press, via: CNET
Reader comments
Alan Mulally dispells rumors of possible move from Ford to take Microsoft's CEO position
I vote Walter White. If anyone is not afraid of a little competition its him.
+920, He would make sure every OEM would want windows phone BLUE on their devices!
There is good if had came. One would had been a potential partnership with FORD after the announcement of Google Automobile Alliance. Google is hitting on every front. In addition Ford was listed again as the best selling US car company. We may say he doesn't understand, but seems to me he understand how to stay with the times and stay relevant. Sad to see him be one to pull out.
Awesome, It would have been terrible for him to have become CEO of Microsoft. Elop is probably still the best bet, and no, he would never sell off xbox or bing, these were just retarded rummors that have long been dispelled.
Satya Nadella is my front runner. As a developer that uses primarily Microsoft technologies it's really impressive to see the philosophical transformation the DevDiv and Server & Tools divisions have gone through under his leadership.
For example, they have gone from a "not built here" mentality to embracing open source like jQuery, JSON.Net, nodejs, Linux, etc. It's amazing that you can log into Azure and provision a Linux VM with just a couple clicks of the mouse. Want to deploy a website from your source code hosted in GitHub? Sure thing, just set the connection up.
Surely Satya wasn't the only catalyst for this transformation - others like ScottGu, Hanselman, Phill Haack, Glenn Block, etc played a large roll in the movement. But if you don't have support from leadership your efforts will more than likely be wasted.
He's relatively young, has a clean image, even demeanor and is generally very likeable. He might not have the consumer space experience some are looking for but I think his background in the Services (of the Devices + Services variety) plus his leadership are exactly was Microsoft needs right about now.
Logically thinking it would be satya nadella as the era of cloud computing is proceeding at full throttle with increasing number of devices being connected to the internet and the roll out of crazy internet speeds (some of us still remember dial up!) who better to over see the transition?
Look at how elop manage Nokia.... From a multinational corporations now is being acquired by Microsoft,this clearly shows that he is not a good leader !
Elop all the way :)
It's so surprised wpcentral forumers are such big fans of rumours.
I know it's crazy. The bloggers take that seriously too, even the big names. Honestly I don't think this Ford guy ever on the table. To be really honest, I think the it was decided many months ago.
Not my choice anyway. If I wanted a sunroof in my Lumia then ok.
Hehe
I don't take anyone other than Elop.
I'd prefer Gates back to anyone else. Seriously though, it doesn't matter a huge amount, so long as the guy has a good background in IT... Managing a car company that is usually behind the rest in terms of tech and innovation, and known for churning out bore machine after bore machine to suit an ailing family market who are looking elsewhere for more excitement and quality, is hardly the way forward for the biggest software and devices company on earth. Regardless of this though, Microsoft could do with culling 50% of their staff and getting some staff who actually understand the fast-paced modern tech world, what consumers actually want, and not keeping staff in their 40's and 50's who are so out of touch, millionaires who don't really want or need to work, except to increase their bank balance, just because its a nice thing to do. Microsoft has a lot of dead wood who just happen to be there by default and they need rid of them.
I don't see Ford as being behind the others in terms of technology unless you're talking about premium car companies. Toyota is a good example of a company behind in terms of tech and innovation.
Lolwut? Ford was the only domestic auto manufacturer in the US to skip government money and turned their aging portfolio into the awesomeness it is now. Have you driven a Ford lately?
One less douchebag to worry about. As they say another one bites the dust
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DrY0W...
:P
I do not want elop getting the job not after he said he would sell the Xbox division that's not a move that i will ever support
He never stated that he was going to sell off Xbox or kill Bing, these were all rumors of what Elop would do
Those were rumors. He himself and Microsoft laughed those things off as retarded rumors spread by retarded people.
Indeed, they were just analyst hype and hope MS do pick some one by spring 2014. Then that would completely rule this guy out as he said "through out 2014", why so specific? Lol.
Well that's good news although i would still like the auze boss to get the position.
And they keep stalling and stalling and stalling. By the looks of it, Ballmer will stay in charge until the end of 2014, if Microsoft's decision will only come "later this year".
From all the names, Bates is still my favourite for the job. Or Major Nelson. Major Nelson would be hilarious.
Lol for a moment there i saw major nelson as nelson Mandela xD i was like dafuq ^^
If the rumors associated with what elop would do if hired are true then I hope he gets removed from consideration quickly. Take your time MS, find the right candidate. Its not a race and Ballmer has done good stuff recently. Not saying he should stay, but no need to have an impatient search.
YCS
It's weird that people here are so down on Mulally when he was in fact the brains behind Balmer's recent changes:
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/How-Ford-s-Alan...
Why do people believe the Elop rumors?
I'd open the doors and start taking applications before I'd give Elop the job. I love my 822, and I love WP, but making Nokia exclusively WP wasn't good for Nokia or its shareholders. Say NO-Kia to Elop.
Elop guided Nokia to a place where no other company would be able to follow them and that's what the 92% of Marketshare in WP shows. I would hesitate to say that the move was terrible especially after the current condition of Android landscape.
What did he do exactly? He transitioned the entire company from one major OS to another major OS in just a few years. Show me another company to do this successfully.
I would say the jury is still out on "successfully." Let's not forget that Nokia was basically forced into selling off this business before it dragged the whole company under.
Selling the business may have been the plan all along. Devices and services was getting hard to compete without their very own large ecosystem. They would always be dependent on someone else.
Elop's job was likely to build value so that it could be sold to a company that does have an ecosystem.
Seems like nobody wants it except Elop. While I think they should have a young guy, I don't think he would be able to cater to the shareholders and to that old legacy enterprise market.
Thank God Mullaly is out. It would have been a disaster for MS - they need a young guy who understands what that demographic wants, not a person about to retire. Elop should be the next to go - Bates and Satya are fine
With the rumors on what he would do, I wouldn't want him.
Same.
The rumors of him looking at killing Bing and selling Xbox? It would silly for him not to look at such options considering the type of turnaround Microsoft needs. One needs to look at all options.
Type of turnaround? I guess record profits and huge console launches mean nothing. Also, as it's been covered many times, Bing is far more than a search engine and is a backbone technology and service behind all Microsoft platforms. Elop is a moron and should be avoided like the plague.
I agree!
You mean the unsubstantiated rumors that someone pulled out of their butt?
Go with the visionary!
Well i just lost a bet.
The new CEO may end up someone totally outside all these lists.
LoL
Maybe!