Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has said it intends to name a new CEO early this year, but the search for a successor to Steve Ballmer continues. Meanwhile, as more executives from other companies get drawn into the rumor mill as potential candidates for the top job at the software giant, the search has begun to affect the boards of other companies, notes Bloomberg. After Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) CEO Hans Vestberg was reported by Bloomberg to be in the running for the Microsoft CEO spot earlier this month, the revelation was the main topic in at least one hastily convened Ericsson meeting the next morning, the report said. Moreover, the topic likely will also be discussed at an Ericsson board meeting before the end of the month.
The search has also shaken boards at other companies, including Ford Motor Co. and eBay. Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) COO Steve Mollenkopf was named as a potential candidate to succeed Ballmer just a day before Qualcomm announced that Mollenkopf would succeed Paul Jacobs as Qualcomm CEO in March.
"The process of finding a new CEO at Microsoft is dragging out too long," Bill George, a Harvard Business School professor who is on the boards of Goldman Sachs and Exxon Mobil, told Bloomberg. "It's become unseemly to have these candidates exposed without any closure." Microsoft declined to comment. Article