Microsoft's long-drawn search for its next CEO may finally be coming to an end and the company is believed to have its sights set on Satya Nadella.
Per a Bloomberg report, Microsoft is "preparing to make Satya Nadella, the company's enterprise and cloud chief, chief executive officer."
Moreover, the Bloomberg report also reveals that Microsoft is considering replacing Bill Gates as chairman. The report sites "people with knowledge of the process" as its sources.
Bill Gates could be replaced by John Thompson, lead independent director per the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity as the process is private. Gates, however, would continue to remain a director.
Several sources close to Microsoft have also revealed that the selection of the next CEO may happen within next week itself, ending the 5-month long search for Steve Ballmer's successor.
Earlier in December 2013, reports suggested that Nadella along with Ford's Alan Mulally were frontrunners to fill in the shoes of outgoing CEO Ballmer. Mulally, however, cleared all speculation when earlier in January this year he confirmed that he was staying with Ford.
"I would like to end the Microsoft speculation because I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford," said Mulally in an interview.
Nadella, 46, currently handles Microsoft's cloud-based computing initiatives and is a native of Hyderabad, India. He has been with the company since 1992 and was educated in India and the U.S. Nadella began his tech career at Sun Microsystems before joining Microsoft.
In the event Nadella gets appointed as CEO of Microsoft, he will join PepsiCo Inc's CEO Indra Nooyi as one of the most powerful Indian-born executives in the world.
"He's a solid choice," offering continuity of strategy and proven execution, said Sid Parakh, an analyst at fund firm McAdams Wright Ragen.
If Nadella is named the new Microsoft CEO, then Thompson will likely help out in managing the company's relations with Wall Street investors.
Several candidates were apparently shortlisted by Microsoft in its CEO hunt, including other insiders like ex-Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Tony Bates, EVP of Microsoft responsible for Business Development, Strategy and Evangelism.
As reported by us, the latest in the list was Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg who dispelled rumors of being the next CEO of Microsoft.
Microsoft is apparently yet to finalize its decision and has declined to comment on the matter.
