Recent reports have revealed that software giant Microsoft is close to finalizing its new CEO – to replace the company’s outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer – and that Ford Motors’ current CEP Alan Mulally is one of the top five candidates being considered for the post.
The CEO change at Microsoft is apparently on the cards in near future; as Ballmer had announced in August that he would be stepping down from the post in one year. In the wake of reports revealing that Microsoft is closing in on its search for a new CEO, one prominent analyst who is predicting that Mulally will replace Ballmer is Nomura Equity Research’s Rick Sherlund.
In a note written to investors, Sherlund said that Mulally is, “based on the merits of his candidacy,” Microsoft’s top pick for the new CEO’s post. Sherlund also said that Microsoft will probably announce Mulally’s name as the company’s new CEO “in a month or so.”
Mulally joined Ford Motors in 2006; and will be retiring next year. Prior to his appointment at Ford, Mulally was running Boeing’s commercial aircraft business from Seattle, close to the Microsoft headquarters.
The projections about Mulally taking over as the new Microsoft CEO are largely rooted in the fact that which some of the other candidates who have been approached by Microsoft have “stated flatly and unambiguously that they are not interested”. Mulally has meanwhile made “non-denial denials regarding his interest in the position.”
