this guy runs the division at microsoft that will save microsoft. listen to what he had to say about that from paris. >> there is a new growth. if you look at what happened in the last quarter, it grew over 100%. fortuneover 50% of the 500 using windows. to 1 billion up and a half. that is the kind of growth we see. it is going to a fundamental share. >> lets me put that into context. my croissant is growing at date 6% rate. his business is growing at a 100% rate. >> there are up. people who have shaped different parts of microsoft business. what makes them stand out? >> the ability to take something and build a giant a business. there are not a lot of people at microsoft -- microsoft is not create people who go to other companies and run them. unlike other companies that are a breeding ground for future leaders. microsoft executives can make their career about changing the ribbon or the save button and they can spend years on that kind of thing. if you look at servers and told business is and how that run, they had strong consistent growth are diff

>> the editor of microsoft press. i only did that for maybe a year before moving to microsoft canada to become the general manager. and he did that for another year and moved back to worldwide technical support and ended in my last job which was senior vice president of interactive media. i like to say i was in charge of development, research and development and marketing for a whole range of products. using have a good time microsoft, that was probably one of the mind. if you were getting a lot of work done, that belonged to office. i had everything in that group and the joystick to encarta small business product. all that wonderful multimedia and the internet. the timeroduct over you were there at microsoft would we know about and the average person know about, what would it be? , the encyclopedia that change the dynamics and wikipedia came and changed once again. at the time i joined microsoft, and cardinal was an idea on a white board. the idea you could get a encyclopedia on a pc and it could be accessible to eve

for microsoft about taking the microsoft ceo job. here's what he had to say. >> i am honored to serve ford, and we have no change in my plan. >> reporter: i understand that. but you didn't answer my question. have you been approached? >> i did answer your question. i am honored to serve ford, and there's no change in our plan, and we don't comment on speculation. >> reporter: and that's become his other standard line -- he will not make any further comment, other than to say -- other than to say he is happy and planning to stay at ford. and it's important to keep that in mind, as you take a look at shares of ford over the last, what, six years, how long he's been there, since october 2006. the stock is up more than 100%. but let's point this out. he has not said categorically that he is not interested in the microsoft job. and the other thing to keep in mind, as you take a look at shares of microsoft trading lower today, a lot of people are saying, well, he said he'll be at ford. he's planning to stay at ford. he is free to go whenev

>> the editor of microsoft press. i only did that for maybe a year before moving to microsoft canada to become the general manager. and he did that for another year and moved back to worldwide technical support and ended in my last job which was senior vice president of interactive media. i like to say i was in charge of development, research and development and marketing for a whole range of products. if you have a good time using microsoft, that was probably one of the mind. if you were getting a lot of work done, that belonged to office. i had everything in that group from the joystick to encarta and small business product. all that wonderful multimedia and the internet. >> what product over the time you were there at microsoft would we know about and the average person know about, what would it be? >> encarta, the encyclopedia that change the dynamics and wikipedia came and changed once again. at the time i joined microsoft, and cardinal was an idea on a white board. the idea you could get a encyclopedia on a pc a

satya nadella is a name being floated at microsoft, the cloud services chief. we caught up with him at the internet conference in paris and pressed him on whether he would want the job. take a listen. >> steve ballmer is the ceo, and i am actively engaged in running our enterprise engineering. >> but do you want the chief executive role? >> i have said everything i am going to say about that topic. >> our editor at large, cory johnson, with us now. we have been talking about the microsoft ceo search for a long time now, and they want to name a successor before the end of the year, and that is almost here. we have heard they have reached a stalemate, they are close -- where are we? >> sources have said they have not made a decision quite yet, there are some other possibilities out there, but satya nadella is the leading internal candidate, from what we understand. this is a guy who has been at microsoft for many years and was principal to the cloud and the division that the cloud is underneath, and he is highly respected in that part of the company. the technolo

who do you think should be ceo of microsoft? >> if you were to make an external pick, the guy that would be best served to do that externally would be paul moritz who has a great history with the company but i doubt he will take the job. that might be one of the challenges in this search. a number of the best external candidates are has didn't to take the job. if you were to make an internal choice, i think satkin nadella would be a good an excellent choice. we will add those to the list. thank you for joining us. ," future of "duck dynasty one of the most popular reality shows on television is up in the air after a star makes controversial comments. we dig into how important the show is to the amd bottom line next. ♪ >> this is the early edition of "bloomberg west," and you can also catch us at her later time. a&e is one ofynasty" the most-watched reality tv shows of all-time. it follows a louisiana family that sells hunting equipment. one of the show's stars made homophobic comments in an interview with " gq magazine." he ha

and is as close to microsoft as ,nyone, i always listen to him about what he says about microsoft. and he says it is a strong likelihood that alan mullally will be the guy who takes over this company. in tech might think it is really weird to have a guy whose experience was largely at boeing, for a while at ford, and no hands-on technology experience. technology is something that impacts all kinds of companies all over the world. iker soft is selling to all of those companies. -- microsoft is selling to all of those companies. they really are at a crossroads. are they going to focus on fixing microsoft, or focus on the future of technology? whonderstand the guy understands the microsoft cloud business is the guy who is the other internal candidate. and that is a very forward- looking -- eli?at about >> from what i understand, he is not in the final picking. that -- just say >> the speculation will obviously continue to swirl. >> i also want to point out, as you both surely know, steve ballmer has said in the past, alan mullally would be a great leader for any company. the guy is an

that is what one of the microsoft protections is actively trying to work against. the idea of enabling this thing that they are calling perfect full room secrecy is going to make it difficult to encrypt traffic. with this perfect secrecy, that is no longer going to be possible. that makes the impact of cracking any key, whether it is hotmail or gmail much less impactful for the average consumer. it makes to cracking a lot more difficult to do. >> as far as big businesses that are facing this problem, i understand why anyone is concerned, it seems to me that the kind of information they want will most likely be found on facebook. >> i think the information -- it is the aggregation of all the information that a person uses, whether it is e-mail or facebook . yet just as many social connections in your e-mail or other interactions is on facebook. it is all that metadata put together the creates an overall picture of an individual. the one thing that is not new year is that any data that travels over the internet is subject to eavesdropping, not only by the government

they are lowering microsoft -- andng microsoft and google startups to promote growth. they think they could add 0.5% gdp. berlin, a lot of competition we are seeing. not to mention a tel aviv who want to be the biggest tech cup besides silicon valley. >> a lot of competition. caroline hyde there. she will be great with a good interviews. microsoft's head of cloud. in one of the internal candidates to take over steve ballmers job. we are taking you inside of ups. the biggest package job. they are using a system called orion. look at the took a facility. >> visit o'brien. the algorithm that makes ups take. >> uggla rhythm is not what -- all the rhythm is not what you m is not what you expect to hear a driver and ups. >> technology company that has trucks. >> it is a program 10 years in the making and subjective to find the fastest and most fuel- efficient way to get packages to your doorstep. >> with a 120 deliveries on a driver, there are now seconds. urion is looking at trillions of things. it will run torture thousand alternatives. -- 200,000 alternatives and find the

microsoft was eyeing him as a potential successor to steve ballmer as ceo of microsoft. major prodigious technical chops. >> he spent two decades of qualcomm. he joined as an engineer in 1994 and became head of cute tc. that is why microsoft had looked at him as a possible contender. he is part of the industry that microsoft cannot crack right now. have reporting on this but the debord go to him and they can to stay what did he go to them with an ultimatum? >> you have to wonder him. >> it is an interesting conundrum. all of this not an embarrassment to microsoft but it stirs the pot. oldis boss who is 52 years -- >> he is qualcomm. >> use the sons of a qualcomm founder. he becomes executive chair. here it is. he will remain executive chairman. he makes room for steve mollenk talking about apples and oranges in types of people would run a company. if he is not in the running, i'm not sure that alan mullally would be there next take. they have different skill sets. >> he doesn't have the tech background. going,very successful at but does he come into microsoft and change

what was the reaction to the microsoft news. both.y said it was they had a long-term succession plan, it just came to a lot shorter term last night. when his name came out of the public, they had to finalize the plans. the plan was to get him to ceo. going to beis not chairman, he's going to be executive chairman. he will be an executive of the company, you will continue to be there, running the company as a chairman. the ceo will be running it as a ceo. he will be on the board where he was not before. paul jacob saying this has been in the planning for quite a long time. just push things along. >> let's talk a little but about -- a little bit about qualcomm's business. they are in mobile devices, but is that their strength? >> it is a company that has really excelled about -- by designing chips, and not worrying about the man chips.e of those about theng processors that would move the data. they been ahead of the curve and when smartphone sales exploded, their sales exploded. their revenue numbers put themselves in the position

that is what one microsoft encryption is working against. the idea of perfect forward secrecy is going to make it difficult. if i was capturing all your traffic that was encrypted over five years hoping i would ea --e to one day crack the key one day be able to crack the key, that is something that was possible before. with this secrecy that is no longer possible. that makes the impact of cracking any key much less for the consumer. makes it more difficult to do. >> i understand why microsoft is concerned. the kind of information they want might he found on facebook. of alls the aggregation the information, whether it is e-mail or facebook. it is all of that metadata put that creates an overall picture of the individual. any data that travels over the internet is subject to eavesdropping by any of the private companies that make up the internet. this is not ultimately a new problem. it is something microsoft and google absolutely understand the risk of. it is something publicly coming up. >> it is a bigger problem. inc. you very much. >> jus

that is what one microsoft encryption is working against. the idea of perfect forward secrecy is going to make it difficult. if i was capturing all your traffic that was encrypted over five years hoping i would be able to one day crack the key -- that is something that was possible before. with this secrecy that is no longer possible. that makes the impact of cracking any key much less for the consumer. it makes it more difficult to do. >> i understand why microsoft is concerned. the kind of information they want might he found on facebook. >> it is the aggregation of all the information, whether it is e-mail or facebook. it is all of that metadata put together that creates an overall picture of the individual. any data that travels over the internet is subject to eavesdropping by any of the private companies that make up the internet. this is not ultimately a new problem. it is something microsoft and google absolutely understand the risk of. it is something publicly coming up. >> it is a bigger problem. thank you very much. >> just a remin

a name being floated at microsoft, the cloud services chief. we caught up with them at the internet conference in paris and pressed him on whether he would want the job. take a listen. ceo, andballmer is the i am actively engaged in running our enterprise engineering. >> but do you want the chief executive role? >> i have said everything i am going to say about that topic. >> our editor at large, cory johnson, with us now. we have been talking about the microsoft ceo search for a long time now, and they want to name a successor before the end of the year, and that is almost here. we have heard they have reached a stalemate, they are close -- where are we? >> sources have said they have not made a decision quite yet, there are some other possibilities out there, but sa the leadingis internal candidate, from what we understand. this is a guy who has been at microsoft for many years and was and thel to the cloud division that the cloud is underneath, and he is highly respected in that part of the company. the technology world is moving into the di

, clo of microsoft, kevin turner, still in the running. nokia's former ceo still in the running. by the way, should be noted he ran microsoft's business software division. and then the other thing, too, about steven is, you know, microsoft bought nokia's mobile device, the phone be handset business. and the other name that keeps coming up is the former ceo of skype, tony bates. so i'm just looking at comments coming in over e-mails, basically what the names that are still in the running, the one that is really popping out is the business software development guy, steven. he is a real hot contender. again, he bought -- microsoft bought nokia's mobile division. but here's the thing, lori, there could still be a dark horse. it could be somebody else that we haven't seen the name coming in to be the ceo of microsoft named by the end of the year. we're going to be staying on this developing story as the information comes in and bringing it to you, lori. lori: e. mac, always a pleasure talking about unexpected -- i mean, just look at the news of

they are thinking of the future andomputing is in the cloud a genius within microsoft can still run microsoft. qualcommwe hear about in the mix and we think about the future of mobile, outside of our business. >> is this usual to have such a public bake-off about who will be the next executive? she has really-- powered in the pavement to find out what is going on with these discussions. acrosoft has given itself full year to find a new ceo, when the call went out in august or september but they want to get this done before the holidays. there are other outside candidates and we don't know who they are. if anyone wants to call me and tell me, just between us, it would be helpful. >> one way that they can lobby to be the chief executive, any of these individuals is follow the french politicians where they use the online comics. there is a company that does such a thing. this is a company that hit it big on facebook, a company known as bitstrips, is blowing up. users have created 30 million avatars of themselves on this service. itstrip?a bat joining me is the cofounder and chief executive, jaco

role in do you see your microsoft in a decade and rbc microsoft? and where do you see microsoft? >> we always stood for being a market force for being a technology. being able to build out platforms where innervation can happen. that is the most -- where innovation can happen. that is the most exciting thing. the notion ofbout ambient intelligence. being able to read over large amounts of data and make every service and every display smart. , thank you very much indeed. who knows if he will be the next ceo of microsoft, but for the moment, he is the executive vice president of cloud and enterprise. >> thank you. in it for the long-haul, regardless of who is ceo. that is my take away. >> we are back in two just a couple of minutes. ♪ >> you are looking at live pictures coming from south africa. in a few minutes, we will be hearing from president barack obama. ♪ to "the pulse." live from european headquarters in london. what. am guy johnson. in an exclusive interview which aren't -- with charlie rose, carney says the recovery will depend on his european partners and his efforts

what is going on with microsoft search? >> it is kind of odd. a strange cross of reality tv and monty python. listhole idea of a short goes out the window when your talk about microsoft. everybody is gone will stop we have a short list. the obvious problem here is anybody with any sort of understanding of technology knows what they are stepping into. they are walking to labor -- badly broken organization with a stellar marketplace that is very mature. add products that are going to end up on the chopping block. that is not an exciting opportunity. when you step out and look at and the problem is, it is not easy for them to make those kind of decisions. what stays and what goes? what vision do they bring quest mark and a possible position. -- bring? -- it is impossible position. >> is it the board or people do not want the job? >> i think people do not want the job and a candidate problem. the classic candidate problem when you are out there as a headhunting firm and opportunity, you have a hard time getting the quality of candidates that the boa

the microsoft board had been ollenkopf for its ceo job. sales of the 500 seat monster airbus a 380 have been slowing, but in an interview, the ceo says rising traffic should boost demand. deny that traffic will grow five percent year on year thanks to asia, china, middle east, so it will double every 15 years. imagine two times more traffic from heathrow. . a record snowstorm in the middle east. it was snowing in cairo for the first time in more than a century. neard three feet jerusalem, bringing traffic to a standstill. >> i want to talk about your hair for the next two hours because it is so kooky. in --s at the fee suite see suite at qualcomm. this morning, steve mollenkopf gets promoted to ceo. two people who know. west johnson is a bloomberg editor at large. morningial guest this is steve miller, chairman of , andformer ceo of delphi in his free time, he sits on the boards of united airlines and symantec. extraordinaryan 24 hours. >> someone e-mailed me describing this as a coincidence. if you think things are connected, you can unde

if you have a stake in microsoft right now, what do you do to hedge that position? >> that is right. risk thiso de- management decision. , mostly ons up speculation that alan mullally will come in as ceo. that has been dampened a bit. because of that we want standard mansion -- manage the potential downside risk. in january, we want to sell a 39 strike out. we want to turn around and buy a 34 strike puts. you are putting $.10 in your pocket if the stock is between nerdy four and 39 at expiration. -- 34 and 39. not a bad thing if we get there. then if were -- then in return, we have that put, if the market does not love who it is named as the next ceo. >> that is if microsoft stays on schedule and names the next ceo. what happens if they do not name successor by the time the options expire? >> that is a great question. we would want to roll that out. we are expecting by the end of the year or very early next year. we could widen out -- i'm sorry, selby 34 strike all. put.e 34 strike milar structure. we do expect it to be imminent. do -- >> you do expected to be immin

liz: let's get to microsoft. microsoft taking on criminal hackers responsible for a massive digital fraud scheme that has spanned the globe. david: joining us with details, jo ling kent. jo, this is fascinating stuff. >> it is really, and something that affects a lot of us directly. microsoft waited for months watching a botnet called zero access that infected millions of computers around the word. with the help of fbi, law enforcement overseas and a court order microsoft attacked on thursday, cutting off act es ses to servers primarily based in europe. microsoft investigators targeted zero access botnet because it fraud anti-ly bills $2.7 million a month with online advertisers with link bait. to get a sense how many computers are affected on daily basis, look how many were targeted december 1st and 2nd alone. 22% in the u.s. 8% of those computers were in india. 6% in italy. turkey, 5%. 47% were in other countries. about there. so if you're wondering why microsoft is investing so much on counterattacks because i

when you think of tech in washington, microsoft and amazon come to mind. everybody from facebook to google has an office in the seattle area. on the early edition, i spoke to matt mcilwain. known for its early investment in amazon. he talked about why washington is the new face of innovation. >> we have been finding for the past couple of decades that washington state keeps getting more and more innovative. amazon, microsoft, 2 of the highest market cap companies and we believe we are becoming the cloud capital. what did those companies are doing and others. >> how many can be just attributed to amazon and microsoft? >> not just the two but a whole ecosystem, the intersection of innovation. mobile going back to t-mobile which is based up here. the research ecosystem which has the university of washington at microsoft research. the artificial intelligence research center. the cancer research area. a lot going on for a long time in washington state. >> what do they get that they cannot get here in silicon valley? >> they can get access to the people who have

insider trading case against a microsoft employee. who knows whether that has to do with the stock coming down. johnson & johnson caterpillar, markets lower. let's get to david asman as we prepare for "after the bell." david: juicy news what is happening with microsoft. this insider trading case is just perfect grist for the mill. we have charlie gasparino and the former head of the sec to join us this hour to talk about that and the sac insider trading case. first go to nicole petallides at new york stock exchange. go to gold. one of the biggest movers around today. down almost, i think these are levels we haven't seen in three years, right? >> absolutely. right now gold is about 1190 a troy ounce and it took gold stocks down along with it, names like goldcorp and newmont mining hit new lows and the rest of the group pulled back. liz: isn't it interesting during this hour, oracle came out with the news and it was earnings numbers. the stock faltered a little bit, today hitting a 52-week high as numbers were digested and they were ver

microsoft. those are examples of on line mapping systems that can be used to find businesses or get driving directions or check on traffic conditions. all digital maps. >> gis is used in the city of san francisco to better support what departments do. >> you imagine all the various elements of a city including parcels and the critical infrastructure where the storm drains are. the city access like the traffic lights and fire hydrants. anything you is represent in a geo graphic space with be stored for retrieval and analysis. >> the department of public works they maintain what goes on in the right-of-way, looking to dig up the streets to put in a pipe. with the permit. with mapping you click on the map, click on the street and up will come up the nchgz that will help them make a decision. currently available is sf parcel the assessor's application. you can go to the assessor's website and bring up a map of san francisco you can search by address and get information about any place in san francis

we were also looking for a vendor that was or could help to guide us through the microsoft ax, software and help us identify how the authority should structure its processes, business processes and then lastly, we are looking for a vendor to help to implement a paperless system for our accounting practices. and we issued rfp back in august, we received a bid and the bid we met with them to interview in september, and we ended up deciding that tyler systems was the best consultant for us since they were also a co-developer in the microsoft ax system, and also have a lot of experience with the government entities of a staff of less than five that was important to me because of a lot of implementations may go wrong in the short amount of time i wanted somebody who knew what we were doing and had experience and hads the demands that a small accounting staff would have, in terms of cost and break down, on page 91, we have a time line that we look to implement the system from january of 2014 and hopefully go live in september of 2014. and in terms of fiscal impacts, we set aside $100,000, in

silver lake work with microsoft. silver lake, big investors in silicon valley worked with microsoft to sell skype and worked on a dell deal and now brought him and to do this combined talent agency. is a lot of the hiring that takes place in silicon valley really controlled by these groups of venture capitalists who work with executive? >> yes. i like this story because it was passed at a later stage and a private equity firm is involved. the work he will be doing is still in the wheelhouse. but it is a counterintuitive move that he would go to a talent agency after microsoft. >> william morris is looking at technology to be the new way they build their company like so many companies. that's the purpose of the show we're doing right now -- lots of companies care about that -- care about tech. >> the same for venture capitalists. if you get an e-mail from a company wanting them to run their finances. it is kleiner perkins or andreessen horowitz, you're more interested even if it's for the same start up to work for. it

. >> companies like google, facebook, apple, microsoft, they provide the nsa direct access to the back ends of all of the systems you used to store data, to put things in the cloud, and even second birthday wishes. and they give nsa direct access that they don't need to oversee. >> these businesses are long complied with legal obligations to hand over certain information about suspicious customers. but revelations of data gathering without the company's knowledge has lead these tech ts to rethink their obligations. microsoft's general council spoke this week on the official company blog, many of our customers have serious concerns about government surveillance of the internet. we share their concerns, that's why we are taking legal steps to ensure governments use process rather than brute force to access customer data. we areess specially alarmed by recent articles in the press to sir couple event online security measures. google, twitter yahoo and now microsoft have expressed concerns over surveillance and are changing encryption technology they employ to protect their customers. publ

microsoft is obviously looking for its next ceo. on the themes that you are talking about, how important is that this vision that microsoft makes on who it ceo will be in terms of the future? fast as least important important as general motors. congratulations to them. not only is it the former head of product, but it is also a female. i grew up in detroit. those two backgrounds for a ceo of general motors was inconceivable when i was growing up there. >> talking about amazon, you have sat on its board. jeff bezos is getting a lot of attention for his future focused on drones. the ebay ceo told emily chang recently that is a long-term fantasy. obviously people who are thinking of the future are going to be dealing with critics in the short term. what do you make of all of that? best way to predict the future is to invent it. the culture of amazon is very much about invention. -- most inventions start out seeming foolish or impossible. we circle back to steve jobs, and he said, stay hungry, stay foolish. >> i want to look at one part

microsoft has said it wants to name a new ceo by the end of the year. one of its top candidates is now out of the hiring, having just being promoted. high hopes for the internet tv service to bring to market this year. it is close to selling the business before it begins. verizon is the buyer. call it the oscars of silicon valley. some the biggest names among them gathered to honor achievement in science. first, to the lead. nearly four months since microsoft ceo steve ballmer announced he would be retiring. bloomberg has reported that they want somebody replaced by the end of year, the chances are dwindling by the day. qualcomm promoted steve mollenkopf to the top job after we reported he was among the top candidates. there is plenty of a buzz about satya nadella. what is going on with the search? paul kedrosky is a managing partner at sk ventures. he will be with us. >> it is kind of odd. a strange cross of reality tv and monty python. the whole idea of a short list goes out the window when your talk about microsoft. everybody is gone. we have a short

brad smith is the general counsel and an executive vice president of microsoft. he's also speaking on behalf of the companies that signed today's letter. >> brad smith, welcome to the program. what is it that the government is doing that microsoft and the other companies want them to stop? well, throughout our industry we're concerned about the increasing reports that government surveillance including in the u.s. but also elsewhere has gone beyond what people understood. we see a need for reform. and specifically we're hoping that there will be clear legal rules, all of this should take place pursuant to the law there should be stronger executive oversight there needs to be enhanced review by the courts. and there needs to be a bit more transparency, certainly, so that we can all have the confidence in the public that we live in a safe country. but also one where we know enough about what the government is doing to be confident that people are striking the right balance. >> isn't it the case that the tech companies, though, have been providing data to the governm

yes, it's a big part of microsoft, but it's not the only part of microsoft, and when europe was slowing down, they actually managed to tread water there, so regardless of what you think of microsoft, they seem to be doing things correctly. now, it's not a huge growth story. i mean, even at 14 times earnings you have to wonder if it's gotten ahead of itself in terms of valuation, but i do think it's still underestimated. i don't think people give them enough credit. >> two potential cat lifts, a new ceo coming in. >> i thought you were kind of bearish on the new ceo, and when we get that spike up. >> and i was wrong, because i didn't think we'd get to 39, but i've said all along that i think the stock that people misunderstood the name. i didn't think we'd trade 39 so i guess i should be sort of the other side of that. maybe the stock has gotten ahead of itself but i don't think it's overvalued and that's sort of the gist of it. >> the other catalyst here is what do they do the bond sale for so a lot of people are saying might do it for buybacks, take shares off the market and don't have

microsoft is obviously looking for its next ceo. on the themes that you are talking about, how important is that this vision that microsoft makes on who it ceo will be in terms of the future? >> is at least important fast as important as general motors. congratulations to them. not only is it the former head of product, but it is also a female. i grew up in detroit. those two backgrounds for a ceo of general motors was inconceivable when i was growing up there. >> talking about amazon, you have sat on its board. jeff bezos is getting a lot of attention for his future focused on drones. the ebay ceo told emily chang recently that is a long-term fantasy. obviously people who are thinking of the future are going to be dealing with critics in the short term. what do you make of all of that? >> the best way to predict the future is to invent it. the culture of amazon is very much about invention. most inventions start out seeming foolish or impossible. we circle back to steve jobs, and he said, stay hungry, stay foolish. >> i want to loo

it shows you how qualcomm can turn on a dime while microsoft is spinning around. they can take up to a year although they want to get it done this year. >> i have been fascinated by how names have risen up and then fallen off the grid. alan mulally, although now there is talk that he does not have the experience in technology. he has dropped down the list. >> i think it really shows that within microsoft there are differing views of the future of the company. should they bring in a tested guy like alan mulally who has turned around ford and is a seattle-based guy? should he fix the culture there? or, you go to a guy who has been running the crowd services business and could be the future of competing. or do they focus on mobile with someone from qualcomm. you can see the different focuses of the board. >> but they can't make a decision. >> while qualcomm made a decision overnight. >> qualcomm moved fast. does this mean microsoft moved too slowly in its ceo search while trying to replace that guy? >> we are really deciding what business we want to be when we busine

have you been approached, either by the microsoft board or by representatives at microsoft about taking the ceo position there? >> phil, i am honored to serve ford. we have no change in my plan. >> i understand that. but you didn't answer my question. have you been approached? >> i did answer your question. i am honored to serve ford. there's no change in my plan and we don't comment on speculation. >> a lot of people here say we understand you're committed to ford. i know you're frustrated that this is out there. why not come out and say i'm not a candidate? >> phil, we don't comment on speculation on any of the rumors out there about any subject. >> let me move on to what other people are looking at. >> mustang. >> which is mustang. the future of ford. the reason the topic of microsoft is coming up is your future of ford. you've got a clear discusson plan in future in place whenever you leave this company. but a lot of people say without alan mulally ford is not as strong. >> i think ford is in great shape. we have a fine management team, a great system of managing the company and i t

microsoft is obviously looking for its next ceo. on the themes that you are talking about, how important is that this vision that microsoft makes on who it ceo will be in terms of the future? >> is at least important fast as important as general motors. congratulations to them. not only is it the former head of product, but it is also a female. i grew up in detroit. those two backgrounds for a ceo of general motors was inconceivable when i was growing up there. >> talking about amazon, you have sat on its board. jeff bezos is getting a lot of attention for his future focused on drones. the ebay ceo told emily chang recently that is a long-term fantasy. obviously people who are thinking of the future are going to be dealing with critics in the short term. what do you make of all of that? >> the best way to predict the future is to invent it. the culture of amazon is very much about invention. the most -- most inventions start out seeming foolish or impossible. we circle back to steve jobs, and he said, stay hungry, stay foolish. >> i

if microsoft wants him at least stock holders we want to leave him at the top. boy has he done great things for ford. david: we're talking about detroit. speaking of detroit, it is eligible for bankruptcy protection. hasn't done it yet. judge says, okay you can if you have to. is detroit just the first shoe to drop? how many other big cities are close to bankruptcy? who are they? do you live in or near one of these cities? how could their bankruptcy affect your life? names and details coming right up. liz: apple hitting a new 52-week high, after finally inking that deal much talked about with china mobile. what having access to the world's largest mobile carrier market do for the u.s. tech giant? next we have a classic bull very as you a -- versus a classics bear debate with two top on lifts. ♪ ally bank has a raise your rate cd at wo'tthat's correct.ate. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd. if our rate on this cd goes up, yours ca

that could be the way forward for microsoft. we may see what the board is thinking about the future of microsoft. >> it will be really telling who they put in that ceo post. we cannot go a day without talking about health care reform. that is the subject in washington that we are focusing on. health exchange website, healthcare.gov, was three years in the making. how much did it cost taxpayers? megan hughes joins us with more. you have the numbers. tell us. >> the frightening answer is that we do not know. we have some new numbers from hhs, but they are not eliminating. they have confirmed that the agency has -- owes 600 $30 million through september. of that, it spent $319 million through october. since october 1, they brought in dozens of computer engineers and programmers from google, oracle, red hat. that costs money. the total cost is something that lawmakers have been trying to get to the bottom of. administration spent in total, not just on healthcare.gov, but all of the exchanges? how difficult is that figure to give me?

he says one microsoft is the way to go forward. it's an interesting story to mullally never confirms any of the speculation. he doesn't deny it either, but that just keeps it going on. >> the groupon change -- the power of the company was always with the largest shareholder. the fact he was officially running things -- >> but it was the most fun of all co registration -- resignations we saw this year. hadcally, andrew mason had troubles and tribulations along the way. the way he conducted the ipo, a lot of investors were not happy with, his pr was not fantastic. he was a young kid who went from playing the drums in the band to being the ceo of a million- dollar company. his resignation letter was fantastic because he basically said i've decided i would like to spend more time with my family and it's the just kidding. i was fired today, which i thought was hilarious. the rest of the letter went on to say things you fell like ceos are saying but they cannot get around this corporate speech. he just went and ditched it and recorded an

gatner report says microsoft could be obsolete by 2017. this year saw the beginning of reorganization. many feel it could be breaking up. when i say five years, breaking up a company needs a runway. >> i don't question any of that stuff at all. we've said it for years. i said microsoft would probably be broken up two years ago. >> mm-hmm. >> you're supposed to make a prediction for one year. >> you're right. >> in five years i will have less hair, a bigger gut and my ears will probably still stick out. >> google owns the internet, facebook owns the media, what does microsoft own? >> i agree. i'll push back a little bit. it's been a pretty good year for the stock. >> stock price has done well. that was not part of the prediction. >> the prediction was for five years. in four years we'll come back. that's broad, though. >> i know. i know it was only supposed to be one year. >> you were doing double duty that day, by the way. down at "closing bell." had to race down to the new york stock exchange. clearly in a convertible to get your hair lik

what do you make of this, someone inside microsoft participating in insider trading? >> this guy jorgensen was a certified financial analyst, and his job was to analyze likely market impact of coming microsoft announcements. his job was to do sensitivity analysis to figure out what would happen with microsoft stock price. the sec alleges he had a joint brokerage account with somebody else, and that i would make these trades, and their goal was to open their own hedge fund with these games. they get caught in the process. >> we talk about insider trading a lot. how common is something like this, really? >> insider trading may be very common. what we know in terms of statistics is that when the sec goes after these things -- when i was a money manager, you would see some things that were egregious. the number of sec prosecutions of insider trading have fallen quite a bit trip they only prosecuted 44 cases in the last fiscal year. -- bit. they only prosecuted 44 cases in the last fiscal year. we can look at those numbers from the sec and it suggests they are not looking

let's move on to one name, microsoft. one name being floated about to succeed steve ballmer can be taken off the list. steve mollenkopf will become the ceo of qualcomm on march 4th and will succeed mark jacobs. i hope i'm pronouncing his name properly. jacob is not an old guy. he's irwin's son. >> he's younger than i am. >> maybe the idea that perhaps he would leave was enough to get them to -- >> his name was floated yesterday. you know what, i'm going to float somebody's name today who is like high up in a company and he's going to make ceo tomorrow. >> would you do that for me? maybe you can float my name or something else. >> it is kind of amazing that this parlor game has gone on for so long. >> no idea if those reports were accurate or not. qualcomm is going to have a new leader and he's not going to be part of the jacobs family. >> shocker. qualcomm is an anointed knock. it continues to go higher. people are looking for a high-growth semiconductor. they don't see it with microchips or broadcom. etf with semis -- >>

areas microsoft could focus on. >> this is where microsoft needs strength. whichs a scenario in mullally is taking a short-term role at the company. one scenario being considered. you can imagine him playing some kind of a role. people that we have talked to has said one area where he lacks theseer technology -- other candidates like tony bates have a great deal of expertise. he certainly shows no sign of lacking energy. >> it seems like he is on the ball. >> absolutely. he is well regarded and has a good reputation. you right off into the sunset after your stint at ford where you had a very good run? they brought that company back from a great deal of difficulty as was the case of gm. >> he is also quite wealthy, worth over $400 million in just his shares alone. now we take a look inside foxconn and some of the other asian manufacturers of some of the world's most popular gadgets. apple supplier foxconn is allowing employees to work excessive overtime in order to meet production goals. apple, a fair labor association members says that foxconn has addressed

we were also looking for a vendor that was or could help to guide us through the microsoft ax, software and help us identify how the authority should structure its processes, business processes and then lastly, we are looking for a vendor to help to implement a paperless system for our accounting practices. and we issued rfp back in august, we received a bid and the bid we met with them to interview in september, and we ended up deciding that tyler systems was the best consultant for us since they were also a co-developer in the microsoft ax system, and also have a lot of experience with the government entities of a staff of less than five that was important to me because of a lot of implementations may go wrong in the short amount of time i wanted somebody who knew what we were doing and had experience and hads the demands that a small accounting staff would have, in terms of cost