LIVE: Let's Throw Out A Bunch Of Names For Who Should Be The Next Microsoft CEO

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says he's going to retire in the next 12 months.

My colleague, Jay Yarow, is working the phone, talking to sources, coming up with a thought-out story about who should be the next CEO of Microsoft.

In the meantime, let's all get to what we ALL want to do…let's throw out some names for who we think should be or could be the next big boss at one of the world's very most important companies.

I'm going to publish this post before finishing it, and start writing names here.

While I do that, put names in the comments section below.

LETS GO!

…Bill Gates! Gates is going to be on the board's special committee to find a successor to Ballmer. He's still Microsoft's biggest shareholder. He's only 57. There has to be some small chance that he surveys what's out there, and decides that no one else is good enough to take care of his baby.