Microsoft’s board considers Ericsson’s Hans Vestberg as a potential CEO

People familiar with the matter reported that Hans Vestberg, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson AB, is considered as a potential successor of Steve Ballmer by the board of Microsoft Corp.

The people, who asked not to be named, because the process is kept in privacy, revealed that Mr. Vestberg is in the running alongside other candidates. Some of the other applicants for the positions are Satya Nadella, who is the cloud-computing chief of Microsoft Corp., Stephen Elop, who is the former Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Oyj, Tony Bates, who is the Executive Vice President of Microsoft and Kevin Turner, who occupies the position of Chief Operating Officer in the company. None official decision has been reached by the board, so people who are under consideration are still a volatile subject.

Some of the candidates for the Chief Executive position have refused to join the rivalry, and other dropped out of the running, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Alan Mulally, who is the current Chief Executive of Ford Motor Co. and who has been taken under consideration for the job, surprisingly announced last week that he plans not to leave the automaker. Fords spokeswoman Jdessica Enoch did not return a call for comment.

John Thompson, who is the lead independent director of Microsoft Corp., is currently leading the search. He shared in a blog post in December 2013 that a search is planned to be completed by the board of the company in the “early part of 2014”. Mr. Thompson also revealed that more than 100 candidates have been competing for the position, but the board has narrowed the list since the beginning of the search.

When asked to answer some questions about the candidacy of Mr. Vestberg, Ericssons spokeswoman Ola Rembe said: “We never comment on rumours and speculation. Microsofts spokesman Peter Wootton also refused to comment on the situation. He also declined to make any executives available for interviews.

Currently, Microsoft Corp.s main software business has been experiencing some difficulties, which is the main reason why the Chief Executive Officer-to-be is expected to make a turn in the companys path. The fast-growing markets, such as smarphones and tables, also have proved themselves to be problematic for the company, which has made narrow progress there.

According to CNN Money, the current share price of Microsoft Corp. is 2.74% up, and its one-year return rate is 1,74% down. The 27 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Microsoft Corp. have a median target of 37.00, with a high estimate of 45.00 and a low estimate of 28.00. The median estimate represents a +0.65% increase from the last price of 36.76.