The job description for Microsoft Corp.'s new chief executive could go something like this: CEO of world's largest software company; competitive salary; few big decisions required.

The unusual sounding pitch follows a series of moves by outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer that culminated with news this week of Microsoft's $7 billion deal with Nokia Corp. The deal will saddle Mr. Ballmer's successor with 32,000 additional employees-along with a doubled-down bet that Microsoft can expand beyond a tiny share in mobile devices.

The news follows Mr. Ballmer's surprise decision last month to retire-preceded by a strategy reset and a broad reorganization in July that reinforced the central role of the CEO in Microsoft's structure. The company's board-which is chaired by co-founder Bill Gates-has signaled that it supports the moves.

As a result, some of the most fundamental decisions facing Microsoft already seem settled, a situation some management consultants see as a turnoff to potential CEO candidates.

'I can't think of a CEO who doesn't want to come in and say, let's take a look at strategy,' says Sandra Davis, founder and CEO of Minneapolis-based MDA Leadership Consulting who advises companies on succession planning.

If the board is aligned about a set of strategic decisions, and what kind of role a new CEO should play, 'that is a very different kind of scenario to attract someone to,' Ms. Davis said.

Not that Microsoft will necessarily have trouble finding a new CEO, given the prestige and potentially large salary associated with the position. Nor is there any reason to think that Mr. Ballmer deliberately set out to limit his replacement's options.

Management experts point to Mr. Ballmer's desire to strengthen a company he helped lead for 33 years. He and Mr. Gates remain major shareholders, and the latter is on the CEO selection committee of Microsoft's board.

'I would see this more as a leader trying to leave a final legacy rather than trying to limit his successor,' says Ben Dattner, a management consultant and industrialpsychologist at New York-based Dattner Consulting Inc.

There is also no evidence that the Nokia deal, while the most recent of Microsoft's big moves to be announced, was forged after Mr. Ballmer's decision to retire. In an interview Monday, he indicated he had first broached the idea early this year.

Still, the job of integrating the Nokia employees with Microsoft's nearly 100,000 workers will likely fall to Mr. Ballmer's successor.

'Whenever a CEO on his way out makes a huge acquisition with tens of thousands of people, you are by definition saddling your successor' with the challenge of integrating two companies, and two cultures, said David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School.

The Nokia deal hasn't seemed popular among investors focusing on Microsoft's business in the short term. Its shares fell nearly 5% on the news Tuesday, and dropped about 2.2% to close at $31.20 Wednesday.

'We believe this deal is in the best interests of all shareholders, providing Microsoft with the opportunity to generatesignificant long-term revenue and profits,' a Microsoft spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Standing out among stockholders is ValueAct Capital Management LP, which holds about $2 billion worth of Microsoft shares and stands to gain a board seat at the company as part of a cooperationagreement with the activist investor announced Friday.

Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura Securities, said the decision to push forward with the Nokia acquisitiondespite the search for a new CEO is likely a source of frustration to many shareholders and to ValueAct. Microsoft said during a conference call that the hedge fund wasn't informed of the deal ahead of the announcement.

'It's like, on the way out the door, you get this deal pushed through,' Mr. Sherlund said. 'I think they are getting an earful from investors.'

The Microsoft spokeswoman said that the company had briefed Mason Morfit, ValueAct's president, since the announcement of the agreement Friday. 'Beyond that, it would be inappropriate to disclose our confidential discussions with investors,' she said.