Since Steve Ballmer has announced that he will resign the post as Microsoft’s CEO, recent reports suggest the company has shortlisted Ford CEO Alan Mulally and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop as top external candidates. Mulally in a recent statement said he has no plan to leave Ford that leaves Stephen Elop as highly regarded in terms of the succession.

According to a Bloomberg report the ex Nokia CEO has already prepared some plans in the event that he would actually succeed. Stephen Elop was the head of Microsoft Office division before he left to become CEO of Nokia. And now that Microsoft has acquired Nokia, he is consider as the top candidate for the top post of the biggest software company.

Elop was a well-liked executive while he was with Microsoft but his performance at Nokia was less-than-stellar. During his tenure at Nokia, Elop was responsible for the dismissal of nearly 40,000 employees and a reduction in spending of as much as 50 percent. Elop also put an end to Nokia’s Symbian operating system, which drive Nokia sell for over ten years. Before he resigned as the CEO, Elop land a deal with Microsoft.

Elop succession plans–diversify Office

Although it is not yet sure if he will succeed Steve Ballmer, Elop plans are rumored to be far-reaching, strategic restructuring that will bring the company back on track. So he wanted to maximize the sales of Microsoft’s Office. On the other hand he wanted to include areas that have proved to be profitable, and throw the towel where the company is making losses including Bing and Xbox Consoles.

The Bloomberg report states that if the former Nokia leader rises as CEO, he could carry out radical measures in Microsoft’s current policy. To start, Elop will promote the development of Office for Android and iOS, instead of the old strategy of the company where Office suites is limited to Microsoft’s core Windows platform. The objective of this move, obviously will help push sales of Office as high as possible, instead of keeping to its own boundary to create an attractive and attract users and tablet PC running Windows.

“Elop would probably move away from Microsoft’s strategy of using these programs to drive demand for its flagship Windows operating system on personal computers and mobile devices,” the Bloomberg report says. “Elop’s assumption is that Microsoft could create more value by maximizing sales of Office rather than by using it to prop up sales of Windows-based devices.”

The financial report recently shows Windows sales rose 4.6 percent to $19.2 billion in the latest fiscal year. The Office and other software also has developed good speed and sales rise 2.5 percent to $24.7 billion. Although Microsoft has now launched a version of Office for iOS, but the service is not very attractive for the user requirements that have Office 365 account, and the software can only be used in iPhone and not in iPad.

No place for Bing and Xbox console

But that’s not all. Bloomberg also suggests that Elop is willing to shut down or sell some major Microsoft businesses. He reportedly considering killing off the company’s Bing search engine, while contemplating selling the Xbox business.

Previously, some investors and analysts have been calling for a split in the Microsoft Xbox and abandon the search engine development. Even Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in a recent interview favor that move. Investment director Paul Ghaffari said recently that Bing and Xbox is hampering the development of the software giant.

Why Elop should eliminate its Bing and Xbox division? The reasons may be different – it is easy to think that the search engine is not a product competing great with Google search engine and is not making any profit. The console continues to be successful, especially considering that the platform is a leader in the U.S. market, and has a very promising future in the new generation with the Xbox One.

According to sources from Bloomberg, Elop plans to study in depth if Xbox really is critical or not for the strategy and the future of Microsoft, since the numbers are simply not generous today, something that sounds simply amazing, considering sales Xbox 360 in recent years.

“Elop would be prepared to sell or shut down major businesses to sharpen the company’s focus. He would consider ending Microsoft’s costly effort to take on Google with its Bing search engine, and would also consider selling healthy businesses such as the Xbox game console if he determined they weren’t critical to the company’s strategy,” says the report.

When it was announced that Microsoft receives two billion dollars yearly thanks to Android patent, it is also mentioned that the company is losing $2.5 billion a year because of Xbox, Skype and Windows Phone.

While selling Xbox and killing Bing seem to be unlikely, especially with Xbox One set to launch soon and Bing powering a lot of its features (Microsoft is trying to tightly integrate its search engine in Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone), it would be a dumb move now. In both cases it seems that the search for Microsoft for a new CEO is going to progress and maybe a name would come out before the end of the year.