Microsoft’s next CEO tipped to be Ford CEO Alan Mulally

27 Sep 2013

Ford CEO Alan Mulally

Alan Mulally, CEO of car maker Ford and a man who pursued a stellar career in engineering after seeing the US put a man on the moon, has been tipped as being at the forefront of a list of candidates to become the next CEO of software giant Microsoft.

Current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is to retire within the next year.

According to AllThingsD, Mulally, a former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, continues to keep a home in Seattle, close to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

Mulally, who has occupied the CEO role at Ford for seven years now, was initially reluctant to leave Ford and head up Microsoft but according to reports, he is becoming more “amenable” to the idea.

There has also been speculation that Mulally was to be appointed to a position in the Obama administration.

Another forerunner for the position of Microsoft CEO is Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who spearheaded the sale of Nokia’s mobile devices arm to Microsoft for US$7.2bn in recent weeks.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

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