Microsoft analyst says that Mulally is most likely out of the race for the CEO position

Dec 19, 2013 02:01 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft revealed in a blog post today that a new CEO would only be appointed in early 2014, which leaves us wondering whether Alan Mulally and Satya Nadella are both involved in the secret talks.

Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund says that Mulally is probably out of the race for the CEO position, mostly because the board apparently wants someone with more experience in the tech field.

“We are less confident that Mr. Mulally will be heading to Microsoft, given our reading between the lines of Mr. Thompson's choice of words, appearing to us to imply that some on the board may be digging in their heals on a candidate with more of a technical background. So far, this appears to have failed in turning up a willing candidate,” Sherlund said in a note.

At the same time, the analyst pointed out that, in case recent reports are true and Ford’s board is indeed waiting for some clarification from Mulally, the American should soon step in front of the media and publicly state that he’s not interested in Microsoft’s offer.

He doesn’t seem to be prepared right now, so more comments are very likely to be issued in the coming weeks.

“If the board of Ford is pressing Mr. Mulally for a definitive answer, as we have seen reported in the press last week, we have to question whether he might need to pull his hat out of the ring at some point soon and say with certainty that he is not interested,” Sherlund added.

In the meantime, sources close to the matter explained that Satya Nadella, head of the cloud business, is the front-runner for the CEO position, as he’s already familiar with Microsoft’s business and has what it takes to continue the company’s migration towards devices and services.