Microsoft has provided a bit of an update on the company’s search for a new CEO. For those that don’t recall, current CEO Steve Ballmer announced back in August of this year that he would be retiring within twelve months. Now, in a new blog post, a Microsoft board member gives us an update.
“As the chair of the Board’s search committee, I’m pleased with our progress. We identified over 100 possible candidates, talked with several dozen, and then focused our energy intensely on a group of about 20 individuals, all extremely impressive in their own right. As you would expect, as this group has narrowed, we’ve done deeper research and investigation, including with the full Board. We’re moving ahead well, and I expect we’ll complete our work in the early part of 2014,” John Thompson stated in an official blog post. He is a member of Microsoft’s board of directors.
Microsoft has been searching both internally and externally for a new CEO. At this point, the selection has narrowed down to less than twenty people and Microsoft expects to reveal the new CEO in the early part of 2014. Microsoft has only had two CEOs in its 38-year history – that being Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
As former CEO and current Chairman Bill Gates mentioned in a recent shareholder meeting, the CEO role is a complex role to fill. This role involves a complex business model and requires the ability to lead a highly technical organization and work with the best talent in the world. In other words, the new CEO has some big shoes to fill.
