Microsoft’s board is preparing to make Satya Nadella, the company’s enterprise and cloud chief, chief executive officer and is discussing replacing Bill Gates as chairman, according to people with knowledge of the process. One person the board is considering to take the place of co-founder Gates as chairman is Microsoft lead independent director John Thompson, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.
There is no shortage of rumors about the new Microsoft CEO. Last year Steve Ballmer announced that he will step down within twelve months and since then the company has been looking for his replacement. A lot of candidates have been rumored over the past few months, both internal and external. Recent chatter seems to indicate that Satya Nadella, who has been at Microsoft since 1992 and is currently the executive vice president of its cloud and enterprise group, is going to be the new Microsoft CEO. Moreover, it has also been rumored that co-founder Bill Gates will be replaced as the chairman.