It's done – Nokia has just announced the completion of the sale to
Microsoft of "substantially" all of its Devices & Services business to
Microsoft. "Substantially" since two factories were excluded from the
deal – the Chennai factory in India , but also the Masan factory in
South Korea.
The South Korean factory employed roughly 200 people, but Nokia
will be closing it down. The fate of the Chennai factory is unclear, but
Nokia will be offering financial assistance to its employees so they
can "explore opportunities outside Nokia starting from a sound
financial base".
Microsoft of "substantially" all of its Devices & Services business to
Microsoft. "Substantially" since two factories were excluded from the
deal – the Chennai factory in India , but also the Masan factory in
South Korea.
The South Korean factory employed roughly 200 people, but Nokia
will be closing it down. The fate of the Chennai factory is unclear, but
Nokia will be offering financial assistance to its employees so they
can "explore opportunities outside Nokia starting from a sound
financial base".
The deal underwent other changes too – the final price is expected to
be slightly higher than the initially announced €5.44 billion due to a
positive adjustment in net working capital and cash earnings.
The leadership team that led Devices & Services at Nokia has stepped
down and is moving to Microsoft effective today. This includes former
CEO Stephen Elop, Jo Harlow, Juha Putkiranta, Timo Toikkanen and
Chis Weber.
Nokia will make another announcement on April 29 (next Tuesday) to
provide further details of the transaction (presumably the fate of the
Chennai factory and the final sales price).
You can read Stephen Elop's open letter here . On Monday, Elop will
be answering questions at the Nokia Conversations blog.
Let's play the iconic Nokia Tune one more time as we close this large
chapter in mobile history.
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