It wasn’t long ago that Steve Ballmer announced his plan to retire in 12 months, leaving Microsoft little time to find his successor.

(Who will be Microsoft’s CEO?)

After Microsoft narrowed its list down to five candidates, it was rumored that former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was the frontrunner. Now, new rumors have emerged that the Microsoft board of directors have made up their minds, and it’s not Elop… at least not yet.

A Chinese website, WPDang, reports that Microsoft’s current COO Kevin Turner will be the software giant’s next CEO, according to an unnamed source.

But Elop isn’t out of the picture yet.

(Microsoft narrows down its shortlist for CEO)

The blog goes on to say Turner will only be occupying the CEO throne for two to three fiscal years, before giving it away to Elop.