“Today Microsoft published a short blog post from John Thompson, a member of its board and the chair of its search committee for its next CEO,” Alex Wilhelm reports for TechCrunch.
“The entry stated that from an initial pool of 100 candidates, Microsoft narrowed to 20, a figure that has since shrunk, and that the board expects to make a choice in the ‘early part of 2014,'” Wilhelm reports. “This pushes back against the narrative that Microsoft intended to announce their new CEO inside of 2013, controlling expectations, and tamping down potential speculation if that rumored deadline was not met.”
Wilhelm reports, “Thompson ends on an upbeat note: ‘Microsoft has had only two CEOs in its 38-year history. As a Board, we are determined and confident that the company’s third CEO will lead Microsoft to renewed and continued success. We’re looking forward to 2014 and the opportunities and decisions that lie ahead.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, please, let it be The Flop™!
Related articles:
Microsoft short-timer Steve Ballmer’s exit interview – November 18, 2013
Microsoft short-timer Ballmer loses over half his bonus over failure to compete with Apple – October 4, 2013
Squirmfest: Video of Ballmer’s tearful farewell to Microsoft – September 30, 2013
Steve Ballmer’s exit not planned or as smooth as portrayed by Microsoft – August 26, 2013
Microsoft stock surges on Ballmer retirement news – August 23, 2013
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months as BoD initiates succession process – August 23, 2013
Does anyone remember the flap about Apple not having a succession plan when Steve Jobs was ill? It was the crisis of the century, yet Microcrap is allowed to scrap along for months without a fill in for Monkey Boy. What a lousy company.
Yes and they said SJ had a distortion field.
I was going to post this exact same thing. People basically pilloried Apple – and they *had* a plan.
But does anyone say a thing about MS? No. of course not.
I would have expected that Microsoft did have a succession plan – it would seem inconceivable that any properly run corporation would not have one. However my guess is that whoever was intended to be the next CEO doesn’t want the job after all and now they’re floundering around trying to find somebody else.
The big problem for Microsoft is that it’s already in an unstable condition, with diminished sales of it’s core products and now it doesn’t have anybody operating the rudder, so there is no sense of direction anymore. Many executives within Microsoft will see this as an opportunity to push their particular agenda, often at the expense of other departments within Microsoft. As a result, there will be increased instability within the company until such time as a new CEO accepts the job. The longer that they take to find a successor, the bigger the mess that the incoming CEO will have to sort out.
SJ had a positive value to the company. SB is a boat anchor to M$. Of course it matters. That said, Apple is valuable and you can manipulate it without fear as long as you keep its stock price low enough. M$ has no value so manipulating it won’t work. Push it down it will stay down.
Deluded as ever, continue WHAT success precisely, there’s been precious little of that in recent times.
Haha no one with a reputation wants to be the fall guy/gal for not being able to untangle the spaghetti code and they won’t let anyone start from scratch… flush.
Ballmer leaves, New CEO doesn’t arrive for a few months,. . . Enter SJ copy cat wanna-be iCEO Bill Gates. 😉
Then the new mantra could be:
“Bill Gates for as long as it takes!
(It almost rhymes, and I’ll bet it wouldn’t take long.)
Does this give you the impression that NO ONE is stepping up to be the Captain of the Titanic 2?
Nobody wants the job, evidently.
“The board expects to make a choice in the ‘early part of 2014” meaning that MS is so well run and organized … they don’t really need a new CEO because he doesn’t have much to do.
“For as long as it takes” may still be a possibility.
IT would be awesome if someone did take over who scrapped the current Windows code (or do a ‘Rosetta’ on it) and start from scratch with a truly modern OS.
Unfortunately, there’s more chance of me winning the lottery than that happening.
Delete the first two letters of the last sentence. There!
While all the media and Wall Street dogs relentlessly hounded Apple and accused it of ‘No succession plan’ what on earth did they think Microsoft had in that bald mind???
Emblematic of Microsoft’s woes.
Pathetic.
There’s a good two dozen potential hires at the next Uncle Fester convention.
Ha, even their new CEO is vaporware!
👍
😆
Declines to name new Ballmer replacement. Which one of the Ballmer boys will be their dad’s replacement for as long as it takes.
For a mere salary of $1 million per year, zero stock options, and the power to clean out the executive offices of dead wood, I would do it. But, typical of MS myopia, you can be sure that neither Linux nor Mac users aren’t even on the candidate list. That is probably why the next MS leader will come from within, and will make practically no changes to the company’s listless direction.
Seriously, the inability to name Ballmer’s successor has less to do with finding qualified candidates and more to do with the fact that no one who knows how to turn around the MS Titanic really wants the job. Throwing more money at candidates doesn’t sweeten the pot, all the people on the list are already multi-millionaires happily raking in cash where they are.
To be successful, the next leader of MS will have to keep Chairman Bill and his puppet board dazzled while undoing practically everything the company has done since 2002.
Ballmer will agree to stay on for as long as it takes – to get a new CEO.
Yep.
His mission to weaken Nokia and have it acquired by Microsoft is done.
Time to reap his “reward”.
Perhaps they no longer NEED a CEO. I like their strategy. I like it a lot … (throws chair).
Seriously, they will never find anyone who could decipher that last re-org email SB sent out.