Bill Gates chokes up talking about the future of Microsoft

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates reportedly got choked up while talking about the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, as Steve Ballmer retires after 13 years of service.

Gates grew emotional while saying that both he and Ballmer were committed to making sure that the next CEO is the right person at the right time for the company which they both love, CBS News reports.

According to the report, the co-founder of the software giant thanked Ballmer for leading the company for such a long time.

Gates further said that the new leader must have a lot of comfort in leading a highly technical organization and have an ability to work with top technical talent to seize the right opportunities.

The company is considering three internal candidates, including enterprise cloud computing executive Satya Nadella, business development executive and former Skype CEO Tony Bates, and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner.

External candidates reportedly include former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Ford CEO Alan Mulally.