Ballmer Exit Leaves Microsoft Searching for Hero in Slump

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer’s retirement leaves the world’s largest software company in a succession crisis amid the worst slump in history for the personal-computer industry it helped create.

The search committee will consider internal and external candidates to replace Ballmer, 57, who will depart within the next 12 months, the company said in a statement yesterday. Tony Bates, Satya Nadella, Qi Lu and Terry Myerson are the leading choices among Microsoft’s executives, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the process isn’t public.