After Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer announced exit within 12 months, the guessing game in the company had started. Nokia's Stephen Elop topped the list of possible candidates to replace Ballmer.

After more than three decades in the biggest software company, Steve Ballmer announced his unexpected resignation last Friday. The 57 year old Ballmer had been working as Microsoft's CEO for 13 years. Microsoft had no apparent heir after Ballmer had resigned. However, bookmakers had placed their bets on a 26 list of candidates. Stephen Elop topped the said list with odds of 5/1.

The 49 year old Canadian led Microsoft's business unit prior taking a post as Nokia's CEO in 2010. Elop was focused to bring the once-undisrupted leader in mobile phones back to the pedestal it was once in.

Kevin Turner, the Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft is a second favorite from the internal candidates. The odds of Turner replacing Ballmer were 6/1 according to Ladbrokes, a bookmaker firm. The third bet was Steve Sinofsky, a former executive at the software firm who left the company last November.