After months of speculation, Ford chief Alan Mulally has said he is not leaving the carmaker to join Microsoft.
In an interview with AP, Mulally said he wanted to end the speculation although he did not say whether he had talked with the software company. “I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford,” Mulally said.
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Asked if this should end investor concerns Mulally told AP: “You don’t have to worry about me leaving.”
Speculation began back in August last year that Mulally was on the short list of candidates to replace Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who plans to step down. Mulally said the rumours had become a distraction for the carmaker, overshadowing new model introductions planned for next week’s Detroit auto show.
A Ford spokesman said that Mulally, 68, had made it “absolutely clear” that he has no plans to do anything else other than to continue serving Ford. He is now the third-longest serving Ford CEO behind Henry Ford and Henry Ford II. The former Boeing executive joined the carmaker in 2006 and is widely credited with returning the company to profitability and changing the culture.
Since the Microsoft rumours started he has dodged questions about a move or whether the company’s board of directors had pressed him to clarify his future with the company.
Although prominent Microsoft investors are understood to have campaigned behind the scenes for Mulally to succeed Ballmer, there have also been concerns about his age and lack of technology experience.
Ford has, however, effectively established a successor to Mulally with the promotion of Mark Fields, 52, to COO in December 2012.
