14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s co-founder and chairman Bill Gates has talked about Steve Ballmer’s retirement in a meeting with shareholders Tuesday.
While he hasn’t provided any details on who’s going to take over from Ballmer, Gates has confirmed that Microsoft is negotiating with both internal and external candidates, saying that the CEO position “is a complex role to fill.”
At this point, people familiar with the matter indicate that Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally, former Nokia boss Stephen Elop, and internals Tony Bates, Satya Nadella, and Kevin Turner are still in the race for the vacant seat.
Gates, however, says that whoever comes after Steve Ballmer needs to be fully prepared to lead a technology giant like Microsoft and pointed to the outgoing CEO for the things he managed to do during the 13 years he spent at the helm of the company.
“I want to say thanks for the leadership over the last 13 years. It’s a real privilege to lead the incredibly talented group of employees we have. We’ve got a commitment to make sure the next CEO is the right person for right time for the company we both love. We share a commitment that Microsoft will succeed as a company that makes the world a better place,” Bill Gates said.
While Gates was clearly getting all emotional when he started talking about Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s co-founder is one of those who supported the retirement of the existing CEO.
Ballmer revealed in a recent interview that Bill Gates agreed to let him go as soon as someone who’s at least as dedicated to Microsoft as he was takes over the vacant seat, as the company is embarked on a long transition to devices and services.
Ballmer’s plan of pushing Microsoft to more devices is said to be continued by the new CEO, while also putting the focus on cloud services and the current key products, such as Windows and Office.