Ford CEO Alan Mullaly Confirms Not Joining Microsoft

Ford Motors' CEO Alan Mullaly has confirmed Tuesday that he is staying with the American multinational automaker. This officially ends rumors that he plans to join Microsoft.

"I would like to end the Microsoft speculation because I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford," said Mullaly in an interview with the Associated Press.

He added that investors should not worry about rumors of him leaving as those were just mere distractions.

In an e-mail sent to AP, FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said that Mullaly's decision was a disadvantage for the software giant because he was the top choice to replace the outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer announced his plans to leave his seat in August 2013.

However, it is not clear if Microsoft knew about Mullaly's plans beforehand.

When asked if they were informed about the news, a spokesperson for Microsoft told the AP, "Out of respect for the process and the potential candidates, we don't comment on individual names."

Mullaly is best known for leading Ford Motors back to right track through a major overhaul which led to the company's increased profitability.

Ford's shares remarkably increased by over a hundred percent and gained $32.9 billion in pretax profit during his term. The company also guesses to earn $8.5 billion in pretax profits in 2013, but a slight decrease in pretax profits in 2014 as it will launch 23 automobile worldwide.

Nonetheless, the anticipated decrease in profit will be "absolutely consistent with us investing even more in the enterprise for long-term profitable growth," said Mullaly in defense.

Bearing those capabilities, he surely was the best bet to lead the giant software company towards its shift to "software and devices" business.

Despite his option to stay at Ford, Mullaly, who is likely to be replaced by Mark Fields, is only to stay at Ford at least until the end of 2014.

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