There's a mole in the Redmond hole…

November 29, 2013

1 Min Read
Will Elop Return Without the Crown?

What a year it has been for Stephen Elop. Having engineered the sale of Nokia's handset business to his former employer, he lined up a massive payoff and put himself in strong contention to return to Microsoft as the successor to retiring CEO Steve Ballmer. (See The Nokia/Microsoft Conspiracy Theory.)

However, according to a Bloomberg report that cites sources "familiar with the matter," Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Satya Nadella, currently executive vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group, are the front-runners for the top job at Microsoft. Which means that Elop and Tony Bates, Microsoft's executive vice president of Business Development and Evangelism, are now less likely to get the call.

Whether as the new CEO or not, Elop is set to return to Microsoft as part of the Nokia deal, which was recently approved by the Finnish giant's shareholders. (See Nokia: It's Really Happening.)

I wonder, though, if the Microsoft board has considered its full range of options: After all, Thorsten Heins is also available. (See BlackBerry Gets $1B to Drop Sale Search, CEO Resigns.)

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— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

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