The five-month-long search for the next CEO of software giant
Microsoft, which threw up possible candidates such as Ford CEO Alan Mulally and
Qualcomm CEO-elect Steve Mollenkopf, is finally drawing to a close.
At the heart of the succession race are two names that have
caused a flutter among the Indian and NRI techie community — Hyderabad-born
Satya Nadella and Chennai-born Sundar Pichai.
Mr. Nadella, who has been with Microsoft for the last 20
years and is known for his innovative work on the company’s growing server and
tools business, has been all but crowned by the international media and is said
to be the more likely candidate. A 46-year-old, who studied electrical
engineering at the Manipal Institute of Technology, Mr. Nadella has led efforts
that include Microsoft’s Bing search engine, its SQL Server database and a
cloud service called Azure.
Sundar Pichai, who joined Google in 2004 and is the head of
Google Chrome, operating system Android and applications like Gmail, was thrown
into the CEO search mix on Friday after little-known technology publication
SiliconAngle said that Microsoft was actively in negotiations with Mr. Pichai.
“We have confirmed that Mr. Pichai is the top choice for the
CEO position of Microsoft according to sources,” the blog said. Mr. Pichai’s
name at this point is still speculation, and even among the technology
community, he is currently seen as an inspiring but unlikely choice.
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