Gates: Next Microsoft CEO Must Be ‘Right Person at the Right Time’

Microsoft (MSFT) chairman Bill Gates told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting Nov. 19 that he and the board’s search committee are “pleased with the progress” of interviewing both internal and external candidates for chief executive Steve Ballmer’s job.

As expected, Gates didn’t identify, or even hint, at who’s in the running nor did he say when the job will be filled. But, according to an account in the Seattle Times, he did frame the job’s requirements and his and the board’s expectations a bit tighter than what’s been offered up so far.

“It’s a complex role to fill—a lot of different skills, experience and capabilities that we need,” said Gates. “It’s a complex global business that the new CEO will have to lead,” he said, adding, “the person has to have a lot of comfort in leading a highly technical organization and have an ability to work with our top technical talent to seize the opportunities.”

So we can check the technical visionary and marketing wizard boxes for sure.

With Ballmer’s well-chronicled late arrivals to mobile, social media and web services, Gates seemed pretty clear the company’s new chieftain will have to see the opportunities before the rest of the market rather than after. Ballmer certainly seems to think so, telling The Wall Street Journal recently, “Maybe I’m an emblem of an old era, and I have to move on. As much as I love everything about what I’m doing the best way for Microsoft to enter a new era is a new leader who will accelerate change.”

So does that throw some cold water on current Ford chief Alan Mulally, who’s been positioned as the candidate to beat in many corners but who’d likely be more a caretaker than a pioneer, someone who will refine the company’s culture and organization but not necessarily see and jump in early on IT trends? And does it strengthen the hand of internal candidates such as enterprise software chief Satya Nadella and new devices honcho Stephen Elop?

Gates’ chatty demeanor at the shareholders’ meeting may be in part to the emotion of the impending changing of the guard at Microsoft—he and Ballmer are the only chief executives the company has had in its 38-year history.

“Steve and I really appreciated all the joys and challenges that came with being CEO,” he said, adding that the two executives are committed “to make sure that the next CEO is the right person at the right time for the company we both love.”

Shareholders Ask About Stock Value

While shareholders voted to approve the re-election of Microsoft’s nine-member board, Gates and Ballmer included, a number of them asked probing questions about the company’s stagnant stock value, according to the Seattle Times report.

Good question. Microsoft’s stock price is up nearly 38 percent in the last 12 months but has risen only 6 percent in the past six months, despite deftly recovering from a worrisome $900 million write-down for Surface RT tablets to post solid Q1 2014 results.

Here’s how the Seattle Times recounted two shareholders’ stock price questions and the subsequent Microsoft answers:

Another shareholder asked: “Why is the stock price so pitifully stagnant?”

Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said she believes that if Microsoft continues to execute on its strategy, that that will be reflected in the share price.

Ballmer said stock prices are unpredictable and pointed out that the company’s profits had tripled during his tenure as CEO.

Evelyn Schwerin of Kingston, another shareholder, asked at last year’s annual meeting why she shouldn’t sell her stock. The answer she received then, she said today, “was baloney.” So she sold her shares—some 400 of them, keeping only 10.

“I’m happy that they are getting a new CEO,” she said. “Everyone’s been touting Mulally. I think he’s great. But I’m not sure if he’s the right person. It should be a person in the industry. I still have hope for Microsoft,” she added. “That’s why I kept 10 shares.”