Ford CEO Alan Mulally has reportedly announced that he has decided to not become the next chief at Microsoft and continue leading his current company.
For months, speculations have been intensifying about who would become the heir to the coveted throne of outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer, with potential candidates in the run being Indian-origin Satya Nadella, ex-Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Tony Bates, and Mulally.
According to Cnet, Mulally announced that he will not leave Ford to join Microsoft and would stay with his current company at least through 2014.
A spokesman for the software maker denied commenting on the heated speculations and stayed off commenting on individual names.
Earlier, board member John Thompson, who is leading the CEO search, had mentioned in his blog post that he expected the committee would complete its work by "the early part of 2014.