Steve Ballmer, outgoing CEO at Microsoft. CC Image courtesy of Zarek.
Microsoft is set to appoint its cloud computing head Satya Nadella as Steve Ballmer’s successor as chief executive officer (CEO), ending a lengthy recruitment process.
Bloomberg and Reuters quote people familiar with the matter as saying, as part of the move, Bill Gates will step down as chairman in favour of lead independent director John Thompson.
India-born Nadella has been at Microsoft for 22 years and took over the running of its cloud computing initiatives in July last year. He has also held roles in the Office and Bing teams, and run the server and tools unit from 2011.
The process of appointing Ballmer’s successor has been a long one, with HumanIPO reporting earlier this month Microsoft was considering Ericsson chief executive officer (CEO) Hans Vestberg as a candidate.
Last month saw Qualcomm chief operating officer (COO) Steve Mollenkopf named as a favourite for the position, but this was quickly followed by the announcement he had been appointed to the top job at the chipmaker.
The beginning of January saw another highly linked candidate withdraw his candidature, with Ford CEO Alan Mulally pulling out of the race for the top position, though it is unclear whether this was his decision or Microsoft’s.
