According to people who were knowledgeable about the process, the board of directors at Microsoft Corp is rearing to appoint the company's enterprise and cloud head Satya Nadella as its next chief executive officer. Moreover, plans are on the way to prepare for Nadella's appointment and are looking into finding a replacement for Bill Gates as company chairman, the sources told Bloomberg.

The sources, who asked not to be named as the process is private information, said a potential candidate to replace Gates is Microsoft lead independent director John Thompson. Two of the sources said Gates stepping down as chairman doesn't mean he will not be involved in the company, and that Gates is planning to help the company with key areas like product development.

Nadella's name has been mentioned as one of the stronger candidates to fill in the position vacated by departing chief Steve Ballmer. The sources noted that the plans for Nadella and Gates are not yet final.

MIT Sloan School of Management professor Michael Cusumano said Nadella is a good choice for the company due to his strong reputation and close ties with the company's engineering teams.

"Microsoft is a contentious enough place that you wouldn't want to bring in someone who lacked credibility with the engineers," Cusumano said.

Moreover, Nadella as head might be profitable to Microsoft. Nadella as president of the company's server business saw $20.3 billion boost in Microsoft's overall revenue in the fiscal year through June, said Bloomberg.

FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said investors will respond more to Gates' departure. "If they are going for the CEO who is right down the hall from Steve Ballmer, you've got to give investors a bone. It would obviously be a big change and a historic change but it's obvious Microsoft needs change in terms of strategy in terms of the next leg of growth."