Gates reportedly plans to be behind every move of the new CEO

Jan 21, 2014 21:51 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft continues the search for a new CEO, and while official details regarding the talks with the involved candidates are rather limited, reports keep coming on the one that could replace Steve Ballmer at the helm of the company.

It turns out, however, that whoever comes to take over from Ballmer will work together with company co-founder Bill Gates for every big decision, as the man who’s still the largest individual Microsoft shareholders plans to be more involved in the tech giant’s business.

The report we told you about yesterday and revealing that Steve Ballmer and his fellow executives could leave Microsoft when a new CEO has been found is also adding that Bill Gates “is more likely to remain visible, depending on the new leader, as well as more active within the company.”

This isn’t quite new, as people familiar with the matter already pointed out that Gates wants to be more involved in Microsoft’s business and work closer with the new CEO; but it’s another indication that the new boss of the software giant might have a really hard time to make any major changes all by himself.

While this might actually be one of the reasons why Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally decided to rule himself out of the negotiations, sources close to the talks are indicating that cloud boss Satya Nadella is the front-runner to replace Ballmer.

Other top names involved in the CEO negotiations include former Nokia boss Stephen Elop and internals Tony Bates and Kevin Turner, both of which have slight chances to take over the vacant spot.

An official announcement on Ballmer’s replacement will be made in just a few weeks, as the company has already confirmed that the new CEO would be presented in a press conference in early 2014.