Microsoft's hunt for a successor to Steve Ballmer continues and now, reportedly, Oracle's Mark Hurd has revealed he is not interested in becoming the next CEO.
Hurd, the co-President of Oracle, told CNBC on Tuesday, October 22, that he was "not planning" to leave Oracle to take over the reins at Microsoft. However, while Hurd squashed the rumors of his alleged shift to Microsoft as the new CEO, he did not deny that the Redmond-based company had sent him feelers.
"Hurd told CNBC he is "very happy" at Oracle - but did not deny that he had been contacted by Microsoft," per the CNBC report.
Hurd was previously the CEO of HP and joined Oracle in August 2010 a few weeks post his resignation. Hurd was embroiled in an expense report scandal, which led to an investigation and fueled his resignation. He, along with Ford's Alan Mulally, has been rumored to be among the shortlisted candidates for the post of Microsoft's CEO following Steve Ballmer's departure.
Ballmer announced his retirement plans in August and since then, Microsoft has been on the hunt for a successor.
"There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time," revealed Ballmer in August. "We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company's transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction."
Recently, we reported that Microsoft had embarked on a CEO hunt and was "narrowing its choices amid preliminary interviews." Apart from considering Mulally and Nokia's Stephen Elop, Microsoft's board has purpotedly also spoken to Paul Maritz, who is the CEO of cloud venture Pivotal. Moreover, eBay's John Donahoe has reportedly opted to not be considered.
Speculations have also been rife that ex-Skype CEO Tony Bates and Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg could land the high-profile job.
Per previous reports, Microsoft's directors have retained executive-search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help it sift through probable internal and external candidates.
