Go ahead and pencil in Stephen Elop, set to return to Microsoft (MSFT) after the Nokia (NOK) sale as head of the new devices unit, as the clear front-runner to replace Steve Ballmer as chief



From The VAR Guy:

Why? It’s simple—leaks (intentional or otherwise) the magnitude of the one floated on Friday in a Bloomberg report, offering up Elop’s grand design (through sources) were he to be handed the helm at Microsoft, typically don’t bubble out without a purpose. In short order, Elop is said to have in mind what easily could be construed as red meat for shareholders in the wake of an outgoing chief—he’d consider selling off or shuttering Microsoft’s money-losing Bing search engine and the popular, but non-core, Xbox franchise.

But that’s not all. According to three sources cited in the Bloomberg report, Elop would enact a heresy of sorts by migrating the Office productivity suite to a wide range of mobile products, including smartphones and tablets running Apple’s (AAPL) iOS and Google’s (GOOG) Android operating systems.

  Rumor Mill Heats Up Over Microsoft's Next CEO