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Nokia's Elop Set To Receive $25 Million Bonus After Acquisition
jones_supa writes with an update on the Microsoft purchase of Nokia. From the article: "Stephen Elop, the former Nokia Oyj chief executive officer who is rejoining Microsoft, is set to get more than $25 million if the Finnish company completes the sale of its handset business to the software maker. Microsoft will pay 70 percent of the projected total amount of about 18.8 million euros ($25.5 million), and Nokia the remainder, according to a proxy filing by Nokia today. The value of Elop's reward is estimated using Nokia's Sept. 6 closing share price and may still change. Nokia shares have dropped by more than a third since Elop was hired on Sept. 10, 2010, even with the stock's gain since the sale to Microsoft was announced. Nokia shareholders are set to vote on the transaction Nov. 19. Elop will move back to Microsoft as part of the $7.2 billion takeover. He is also a candidate to succeed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer."
You need to read up on the facts before making such statements. First, Stephen Elop wasn't directly involved with much of the negotiation that happened between Microsoft and Nokia. Secondly, and more importantly, Nokia was as good as dead without Microsoft and Windows Phone.
Nokia's decline started over a decade ago when they thought the future of mobile phones was disposable fashion accessories. When they finally got into smartphones late in the game they chose technological dead ends. Praise Symbian or Meego to your heart's content but it's all irrelevant. Nokia didn't have the resources to turn either into a relevant platform. There was far too much effort and expense required to turn them into viable competitors to Android or iOS, let alone then getting third parties to support the platform with apps.
Some have suggested that Nokia should have adopted Android. There's already an overwhelming glut of Android devices on the market. Samsung is the dominant player by a huge margin with LG, HTC, Sony fighting over scraps. So what would be Nokia's strategy? Enter the fray as an also ran and hope that in the next 5+ years they somehow evolve into a relevant player? Don't forget that they were already heavily bleeding cash by this point.
A partnership with Microsoft was the best possible move Nokia could have made. The deal gave them a distinctive OS that thrust them to the forefront of the tech press. I guarantee you we wouldn't be talking about Nokia today if they had gone with Android. The fact that growth has been slower in the US is mostly thanks to a crap retail industry which discourages competition and suffers from ignorance and apathy. Carriers make the situation worse because they have little interest in promoting variety over cash cows. In markets where there is more open competition and where consumers are less likely to get sucked into contracts, Nokia phones have generally done quite well.
Many CEOs are undeserving of the bonuses they receive, but Elop did the best he possibly could do save Nokia. We'll see if Microsoft's acquisition turns out to be positive, but at least for now it's an encouraging sign for competition amongst smartphones.