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Microsoft Narrows Down CEO Shortlist: Elop, Mulally, Bates, Nadella In Mix

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the surprise-surprise-elop-wins dept.

rjmarvin writes "Sources have confirmed that Microsoft has narrowed down its search for its next CEO to five external candidates and at least two internal candidates. Rumored frontrunner Stephen Elop, former Nokia CEO, and Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally are reportedly in contention, along with Microsoft's Skype head Tony Bates and their cloud and enterprise chief Satya Nadella. The other external candidates who've emerged from the approximately 40 rumored names swirling around since August have not yet been revealed."

14 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Those that know ... by jamesl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Those that know aren't talking. And those that are talking don't know.

    Sources. Ha!

    1. Re:Those that know ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There's no way this goes to anyone but Elop.

      Mulally would be the best pick, which is why it's not going to be him.

    2. Re:Those that know ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think dead Steve Jobs would do a better job than any of those.

    3. Re:Those that know ... by cusco · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Mulally would be the best pick

      Why? The whole Cult Of The CEO revolves around the magical mystical "leadership" aura that supposedly inhabits the specially gifted and turns everything they touch to gold. What a steaming pile of horsepuckey. Saying that Mulally is the best pick because he has succeeded running factories in the past (never mind that most of his success seems to have been lucky timing) is like saying that since my brother knows how to run a remodeling company he would be the best person possible to manage a restaurant chain.

      --
      "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
    4. Re:Those that know ... by cusco · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Success has nothing to do with the Leadership Aura effect, Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump and Michael Capellas are all highly sought-after.

      --
      "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  2. Re:Is this some kind of Miss World contest? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    First they must be able to pull the chair from the sacred stone, if they can toss it in Google's direction they become CEO

  3. Re:Slashdot is cheering for,,,, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nah, we're sad that Ballmers fail train is leaving the station.

  4. A day late and a dollar short by korbulon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Like naming a new captain to the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

    1. Re:A day late and a dollar short by WWJohnBrowningDo · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's a terrible metaphor. Microsoft is not sinking; Microsoft is soaring!

      If anything, it's like naming a new captain to the Hindenburg after it caught fire.

      Original credits goes to Colbert.

  5. Re:Elop needs to broker a deal with Apple by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He did that for a reason. He was trying to promote WinPhone at all costs. Nokia was an acceptable loss. He has no interest in risking Microsoft. That is his team.

  6. Shocked That Elop is the Front Runner by macromorgan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Given what Alan Mulally had done for Ford as CEO and Boeing as a senior VP, I'm shocked he's not the front runner. He helped lead Boeing's resurgence against increased competition from Airbus, and then made Ford the strongest of the big three automakers and the only one able to weather the storm of the Great Recession. It would seem only fitting that he would be picked to lead Microsoft as it attempts to reinvent itself against growing competition.

  7. Re:Slashdot is cheering for,,,, by Kjella · · Score: 5, Informative

    Elop? Nokia was already in a nosedive when he started. If anything, he just guided them to a softer crash into a fluffy Microsoft pillow.

    They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here. They had ten stable quarters with >6 billion in revenue and >500 million euro profit, the Windows Phone deal is announced and boom they go from a 750 million euro profit to a 200 million euro loss and their sales have been in free fall ever since. Yes they needed a revitalization in the smart phone market where Apple and Google were kicking their ass, but they had sales and profits to fix that. Until Elop issued his "burning platform" memo and announced an all-out switch to Microsoft, that is. If Microsoft hires him it's nothing but kickback for burning Nokia to the ground to promote Windows Phone.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  8. Hope for Elop by devent · · Score: 4, Funny

    After his success to burn Nokia, as a Linux user, I hope for him.
    I'm looking forward to his Burning Platform memo on Microsoft.

    --
    http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
  9. Re:Slashdot is cheering for,,,, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please don't spread that myth. This is clearly not true and the numbers are public. The smartphone devision was highly profitable exactly up when the switch to Winodws Phone was declared and Symbian was deprecated. Symbian sales instantly collapsed and Windows Phone never (up to now) got sales even remotely close to that Symbian smatphones had at this point (30 million per quater - Lumia now: 8 million). Nokia was overall a healthy company with losts of cash before Elop and it is close to bankruptcy now.