Two people with knowledge of the matter reported that a successor to the Microsofts Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer may be named by the directors of the company within days. One of the people explained that the Executive in charge – Satya Nadella – is considered as the most likely choice, cautioning that the board is still yet to meet to make the formal decision.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to reporters request to make a comment.
Some analysts believe that shareholders of the company would be quite disappointed by the erection of an insider for the position, because they have been agitating for a more drastic change in the policy of Microsoft. Some of the shareholders are said to have been hoping for extending the changes to a possible spin-off in the companys video game and search engine businesses.
As reported by the Financial Times, an eventual appointment of Mr. Nadella at the position of Chief Executive Officer of the company would be likely to go down well with the companys rank and file, where he is seen as a popular and consensus-driven engineer. Mr. Nadella has been working for Microsoft for 22 now and is known for running the consumer online services business of the company, including its Bing search engine for some time. Then he moved across to the enterprise side of Microsofts business.
One of the analysts of FBS Capital Markets & Co. – Daniel Ives, said for Bloomberg: “Can a Redmond insider like Satya take out the whiteboard and look at it with a fresh view and be willing to make the changes needed, whether its in mobile or the tablet? He has all the qualifications to take over, but the question for investors is will he be able to change things up.”
The people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the process is not public yet, said that the choice of a new Chief Executive Officer will probably to be accompanied by other shifts in Microsofts ranks. They reported that the Board of Directors is also discussing the replacement of the current Chairman bill Gates with John Thompson, who is the Microsoft lead independent director.
According to CNN Money, the current share price of Microsoft Corp. is 0.55% up, and its one-year return rate is 1.47% down. The 27 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Microsoft Corp. have a median target of 39.00, with a high estimate of 45.00 and a low estimate of 29.00. The median estimate represents a +5.81% increase from the last price of 36.86.
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