Microsoft COO Another Internal Candidate for the Company's CEO

The search for Steve Ballmer's replacement is in full force. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) COO Kevin Turner is on a short list of candidates, which also includes two other internal candidates.

Tony Bates was also named an internal candidate. Bates is currently the Executive Vice President responsible for Business Development, Strategy and Evangelism. A self-taught programmer, Bates held senior ranks at Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) before settling in as CEO of Skype in 2010. Bates sold Skype to Microsoft a year later for $8.5 billion.

The other reported internal candidate reported is Satya Nadella. Nadella is responsible for Microsoft's $19 billion Server and Tools Business. Prior to his post at Microsoft, Nadella held a senior position on Sun Microsystem's technology staff.

Related: Elop, Mulally Remain At the Top of Microsoft's CEO Candidates

Bloomberg quoted Bill George, a director at Goldman Sachs and Harvard Business School professor as saying, “An insider may not be able to make the difficult big changes Microsoft needs and get other insiders to follow him.”

Bloomberg also reported on candidates who have removed themselves from consideration. Paul Maritz, head of EMC's (NYSE: EMC) Pivotal venture has joined Oracle's (NYSE: ORCL) co-president Mark Hurd and eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY) CEO John Donahoe in saying “thanks, but no thanks” to be included as potential nominees.