“According to sources close to the situation, Ford CEO Alan Mulally has vaulted to the forefront of the candidates to become the new CEO of Microsoft,” Kara Swisher reports for AllThingsD.
“People with knowledge of the situation said that while the 68-year-old Mulally — who has been CEO of Ford for seven years and is a well-known business star — was not seeking the job at first, he has become more amenable to the idea in recent weeks,” Swisher reports. “Among the factors: Mulally was a former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the Seattle area and has long wanted to return there, where he continues to keep a home. In addition, he was a close adviser to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in his recent effort to create a new management structure for the company.”
Swisher reports, “Sources said that while [Nokia CEO Stephen] Elop has remained a top candidate, there has been a shift in recent weeks toward Mulally, who has much turnaround experience.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Don’t blow it, Microsoft board! Stephen Elop is your next CEO. We like that strategy. We like it a lot.
That said, Mulally is the genius who decided to go with Microsoft SYNC/MyFord Touch which sank Ford customer satisfaction ratings to new depths, so he might be perfect for the job!
Related articles:
Ford plummets to 27th in J.D. Power vehicle quality rankings on Microsoft-developed ‘MyFord Touch’ woes – June 20, 2012
Nine auto makers partner with Apple for ‘Eyes Free’ Siri integration – June 12, 2012
Stung by plummeting quality ratings, Ford to upgrade glitch-prone Microsoft-designed ‘MyFord Touch’ systems – November 7, 2011
Microsoft’s confusing, buggy Sync sinks Ford’s J.D. Power quality ratings – June 23, 2011
When crap collides: Ford and Microsoft team up for in-vehicle operating system – December 29, 2006
This actually could be interesting. Microsoft getting a CEO who’s experience is with automobile manufacturers instead of software may change things up a bit.
Yeah, like when Apple got a CEO whose experience was with a soda company. That certainly changed things up a bit.
DO IT, MICROSLOTH!
I agree, except for the “soda” bit. Where I am from, it’s called “pop”. 😉
Where I’m from, pop is what rival drug dealers do to each other.
You must be from the Midwest? When I went to college out there I had to relearn:
Soda = Pop
Bag = Sack
Sneakers = Tennie Runners
Sub = I’ve forgotten that one, but maybe having the Subway chain has made them call the sandwich a Sub like the rest of us.
Loved the Midwest though.
Don’t forget “Lunch” = “Dinner”.
It would be interesting if they hired Scott Forstall !!!
😉
I don’t think he wants to be demoted.
Apple should re-hire Forstall to correct the lump of shit that iOS 7 has been turned into by Ive.
BLN’s LN must be aching for him to have his ire up at 4 am over a cosmetic facade that arguably does enhance usability.
Let’s take up a collection for an Android for BLN so he can depart MDN for more “open territory” where he can color his screen any way he wants each day to light up his life.
Hey I’m not its greatest fan but the road Forstall was going was rapidly becoming a dead end it was time for a change and I am willing to see the next installment before I judge further if this can be turned into the right one
That would be too intelligent a move for them. Though it has been my worry since Monkey Boy’s announcement.
Mulally came to Ford from Boeing. Most ex-Boeing execs never sell their houses in Seattle. I wonder if Alan did?
Nooooooooo! We – want – Elop!
Wait a minute “Mulally…was a close adviser to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in his recent effort to create a new management structure for the company.”
Hey, I like this strategy, I like it a lot…..
Yes, that does give us hope doesn’t it? Thought that myself when I read that same sentence.
Yes because it makes perfect sense to hire a 68 year old for energetic long term strategic thinking, assuming he doesn’t suddenly drop dead (especially from left over Ballmer office fumes).
It does make sense, thanks. We needed him, because I am too busy twerking to Robin Thick’s new song, “Blurred Lines”. Someone has to do it. It’s like I always say: “I like that strategy! I like it a lot!”
Steve Ballmer should come up and shout: “Elop! Flop! Elop! Flop! Elop! Flop! Elop! Flop! Elop! Flop! “
I thought for sure MS would hire Larry Flynt, Hefner or Ron Jeremy. I’m disappointed.
I’m still going with Bill Gates, at least as the interim CEO (“iCEO”)… 🙂
I hope they hire Ian Brandon Anderson. He has a 7 year old CADD and great people skills, so doing that would be a great strategy for a company like Microsoft. Do it, Microsoft! IBA needs you, and you need him!
Oh, he is such a sweet dude, people skills to the maximum and he is from the industry, so you know he acts and knows what the industry is about.
I about spit my drink out reading you post. He would also finally make it to a big city. Seattle is quite different than DC though.
Ford builds turds.
My feeling is that what Microsoft needs is a big shake up and that will only come from an external candidate getting the CEO job. Elop is technically an outside candidate, but is so close to Microsoft that I don’t regard him as a true external candidate.
Mulally has done some good things at Ford, but my experience of ( Microsoft’s ) Ford Sync is so bad that I won’t be buying another Ford – despite the fact that in every other respect I’ve been happy with ten to fifteen previous consecutive Fords and would have bought another if Ford Sync wasn’t such an abomination. To cripple an otherwise excellent product in a highly competitive market is insane.
For a CEO to have such a huge blind spot is a major issue and I simply can’t understand why Ford have continued with such an ill-conceived technology.
The biggest factor that counts against him is his age. I know that CEOs can keep working long after the normal retirement age, but he would be taking up the role at the age of 68. If the intention is to significantly restructure Microsoft, they need somebody who is going to be there for 7-10 years in order to see it through. On the other hand, if the plan is to change as little as possible and remain on the present course, then Microsoft won’t be a powerful company for much longer, so his age wouldn’t be so much of an issue.
While I agree with most of you that Microsoft deserves Elop, if they are going to appoint an external candidate, Mulally might be just as poor a choice as Elop and one that we could applaud.
No worries. It won’t take him that long to dismember MSFT.
The Xbox dynasty may be over soon. My son is addicted to Minecraft which is an indie product that works on PCs. Only uses xBox for NFL game. Free Office type software will slow update of MS Office. Win 8 uptake is slow. My company is still on XP and has started transitioning to Win 7. Win 8 would be 8 years away. Win phones headed the way of BBerry IMO
every time there’s news about Msft I get WORRIED
I get worried that Ive will laugh so loud he’ll fall off his seat and knock his head….
Ford’s story is interesting but Elop seems still on top
Well.. I still want Wozzie to be the next chairman of Apple, that hasn’t changed, but how about this idea:
1. Woz becomes CEO for M$
2. Woz transforms MS to an Apple-like-company with innovation flourishing (think Apple I and Apple II)
3. Woz renames Microsoft to “Apple Reloaded”
…then we have TWO Apple companies innovating the sh*** out of everybody else…hell, we could be traveling to the stars in a few decades when they fiercely compete against each other.
– WozzieFan –
Mulally’s people skills were very impressive when he was in charge of the 777 project at Boeing, as witnessed in a fly-on-the-wall documentary that was broadcast way back when. But he seems like another enthusiastic sales guy. Is that what Microsoft needs ? Depends on the preferred outcome, I guess.
And here’s the documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oyWZjdXxlw
So MS went from the sales guy to possibly the car sales guy
Yes, now Microsloth really will have a car salesman at the helm. Veeery inntereeesting…and funny. Maybe Ballmer should go to Ford. Just a switcheroo.
It would be perfect for a company like Microsoft, which never had any original ideas, to do a Carly Fiorina and go with a transient retread from the professional management class. Someone with no experience or passion for the business Microsoft is actually in, someone who will drive the company down even further, and who get a big fat payout when the long-suffering board finally asks him to leave. Because that’s what every other big business does, so it must be the right thing to do, yes?
Another abomination that will be brought to you by Men in Suits.™
So appropriate for microsoft’s Fix Or Repair Daily (FORD) products.
I had not connected that old saying, great thought! It IS a perfect fit to the transfer.
Found On Road Dead
Maybe Mulally feels the only way to fix MySync for the Ford product line is to take over Microsoft?
Lol
Future M$ products: Any color as long as it is BLACK …
Alan Mulally has done well at Ford, but he nearly ruined Boeing with the Dreamliner disaster. He also did his best to kill Boeing’s flying wing passenger jet project even though they had airlines interested in that concept more than the Dreamliner.
Just the man for the job! The next Microsoft tablet will include a turbo V8 processor 😊
Any product with the word “my” at the beginning is destined to be great.
This has the faint aroma of a similar brilliant idea by a high tech company a couple decades ago. In that case a guy from a soda company was brought in to run things.
What was that company’s name?
I just read that Mulally says he’s not leaving Ford and will stay on at least through 2014.
Microsoft could do a lot worse.
It seems many of the posters here are not aware of Mulally’s accomplishments. He was in charge of development of the most capable commercial airplane built in the 1990s, the Boeing 777. Part count alone indicates a modern airliner is at least an order of magnitude more logistically, technically, and bureaucratically challenging than the typical car or personal computer. Airplanes of this caliber incorporate all the sciences, including very impressive computing, to achieve the reliability and safety that the general public takes for granted. Truly a marvel.
Mulally would be up to the task of running any company if he wanted to do so. The question is, would he want to do so? He’s probably had enough of political strife working in the car industry these last several years, why would he want to enter the politically charged — almost religious fervor level — atmosphere of personal computing? He doesn’t need the stress or the money.