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

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."

Those that know ...

[jamesl]

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

Sources. Ha!

Re:Those that know ...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

'internal' hire

[globaljustin]

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

yup...agree...

Elop is listed as an 'outside' candidate, but he was essentially a mole for M$ for his whole debacle at Nokia. He went in, ran that company into the ground...now he gets his reward.

Watching M$ die its weird death is sort of like the scene in Blade Runner when Pris is killed and does that awesome android freak out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9t5ikxjAQ4 [youtube.com]

Re:Slashdot is cheering for,,,,

[alexander_686]

Past success or failure is a poor indicator of future performance for a CEO.

Whatever challenges the CEO overcame in the past are not likely to be the challenge of the future. A new company in a new year means a whole new ball game.

As for failures, I can point to some very successful CEOs (including Steve Jobs) where they learned from their failures. For Elop you also needed to know that Nokia was a sinking ship. It would have taken somebody extraordinary to turn Nokia around.

As a side note Alan Mulally is an interesting name. Most people figured a Boeing manager could not turn around a car company around but he did.

Re:Shocked That Elop is the Front Runner

[cusco]

So someone who knows how to manufacture physical products automagically knows how to make software? Is this part of the powers of the Holy Snake Oil that MBAs are anointed with upon graduation?

Re:Slashdot is cheering for,,,,

[Kingkaid]

Nokia was tanking long before Elop, it just became much more visible during his reign. And look at what he actually accomplished. Pre-Elop Nokia had ALL divisions losing money. He has now left, and the mapping division is in the black. Their network infrastructure is in the black. Nokia could not make a good run with the phone and device portion, which he was able to sell, giving Nokia enough cash to pay off many restructuring debts. That is actually not a bad record.

Consider versus choice

[Kingkaid]

He considered android and chose not to use it, there is a difference. You could say it may have worked out well for Nokia had they picked android. Then again look at who tried Android: Dell, HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Lenovo, etc. The only one that can safely say they did well with the android platform is Samsung. That is one winner and most of the other companies were destroyed in the process. The android market was a knife fight, it is not insane to decide not to participate in it.

Re:Those that know ...

[cusco]

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.

Re:Those that know ...

[timeOday]

I largely share your skepticism, but Microsoft seems almost uniquely positioned to get a lot of value from a real leader, if they can find one. On the one hand, it is a highly profitable company with huge resources and a culture of making large, sustained investments. On the other hand, it seems to have trouble rallying around an uncompromised, clear-minded vision.

The truth is Microsoft could also make a lot of money for many years yet with nothing at the top but a hard-nosed accountant/administrator. But it could also be much more. I suppose most likely they will get the administrator and pay him like a visionary.

Re:Those that know ...

[cusco]

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

Re:NONE OF THE ABOVE

[Anonymous Coward]

>Former Ford CEO - hey at least Ford has been doing well. But does this guy know a wheel from a mouse?

Well, let's see:

Mulally [wikipedia.org] was hired by Boeing immediately out of college in 1969 as an engineer. He held a number of engineering and program management positions, making contributions to the Boeing 727, 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777 projects. He led the cockpit design team on the 757/767 project. Its revolutionary design featured the first all-digital flight deck in a commercial aircraft,...

Yeah, probably.

Re:Slashdot is cheering for,,,,

[Anarchduke]

But apple and google were not kicking their ass. The truth is that until Elop took over, Nokia's smartphone division not only had more marketshare, it was growing faster than either Apple or Android. Elop destroyed that http://seekingalpha.com/article/916271-how-stephen-elop-destroyed-nokia [seekingalpha.com]