Bill Gates, the chairman and former chief executive of Microsoft, is more involved with the company now than he has been in years. But he does not -- repeat, not -- want to run it.
Since Microsoft began a search for a new chief executive months ago, Gates and people close to him have said that he won't return to lead the company. For good measure, Gates said it again on Tuesday, in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Yet Gates, even as he hobnobs this week with the powerful and wealthy in Davos, Switzerland, is deeply engaged at Microsoft. He is regularly meeting with company executives, offering input on products and weighing in on the search for a chief executive, according to several people who have either spoken to Gates directly or are aware of his recent comings-and-goings at the company. Those people would speak only anonymously to protect their relationship with Gates.
The precise nature of Gates's current and future involvement at Microsoft has been a hot topic of speculation as the company searches for a new chief. That interest has only intensified as the search has dragged on longer than many investors and people inside the company had hoped.
When Alan Mulally of Ford, the presumed frontrunner for the job at one point, dropped out, many people watching the process from a distance concluded that Gates's presence at Microsoft was harming the process. What rational person would lead the company, this line of thinking goes, with Gates breathing down his neck and second-guessing his every move? (All of the presumed candidates are men.)
The reality of Gates's status is a bit more nuanced. One of the people with knowledge of his activity at the company, who is also informed about board discussions, said Gates was willing to dial up or down his involvement with Microsoft based on the wishes of the new chief.
If the new chief executive wants Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft and one of the founding fathers of the tech industry, to chime in more often on company matters, Gates will do it, this person said. If the new chief executive wants Gates doing less around Microsoft, he will respect that, too.
Several people associated with Microsoft and Gates for years say they believe that he doesn't want to have to be called in to rescue the company from a perilous situation, which would require day-to-day attention.
The company is still healthy, but it has lost its advantage in several areas. If a new chief executive failed, the company could fall further behind.
In interview after interview, most recently the one on Bloomberg Television, Gates has shown little interest in leaving his full-time work as a globe-trotting philanthropist with the Gates Foundation.
Following the example of Michael Dell or Howard Schultz, executives who came back to lead Dell and Starbucks after those companies went astray, does not seem to be his ambition.
Gates is spending more time on Microsoft now, in other words, to avoid spending more time on it later.
"I think it will be very important for Bill to assure for himself that he has put in place a good steward for the company who can provide the right technical direction for the future, and not someone who just reduces costs for a couple years and leaves the company without the problems having been fixed," said Rick Sherlund, a veteran Microsoft analyst with Nomura Securities.
A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Gates.
The future of Microsoft's chief executive, Steven Ballmer, is also an intense topic of discussion. Ballmer does not have a large foundation waiting to occupy him once his successor is found. He is a meaningful shareholder and board member of the company. And he is the architect of many major projects at Microsoft that are still in motion, including a broad reorganization of the company and the acquisition of Nokia's handset business.
It's those initiatives that could complicate Ballmer's dealings with his successor, should the new chief executive decide to change the playbook. For that reason, Matt McIlwain, a venture capitalist in Seattle with Madrona Venture Group, predicts that Ballmer will leave the company's board in the next six to 12 months, when the spotlight has shifted to Microsoft's new leader.
McIlwain says he also believes that Gates will end up doing more at Microsoft than in past years. He sees fewer hazards associated with that than with Ballmer staying involved.
"Bill has a strong personality, but he has more distance and perspective," McIlwain said.
So the search for a new Microsoft chief executive continues. Progress on the search has slowed this week because of Microsoft's earnings announcement on Thursday and Gates's trip to Davos, said the person briefed on the process.
With Mulally and other external candidates fading, McIlwain and others speculate that Microsoft is leaning toward selecting a Microsoft executive as its new chief. Many senior executives brought into Microsoft from the outside have not fared well at the company, and that point is widely discussed among employees. McIlwain said he favoured Satya Nadella, who has led the company's cloud computing efforts and big parts of its corporate software business.
Wherever the person comes from, the company can't afford to have its body reject its new part. Gates seems acutely aware of that.
Ref - TOI
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