How the Deal Between Microsoft and Nokia Went Down.

I chose this picture intentionally, since most seem to be under the impression that Elop has the ability to sell a company with a wave of his magic wand. He can’t.

Allthingsd has a very detailed article about how everything went down between Microsoft and Nokia in terms of their acquisition, we previously, but here’s s started back in February at MWC, but here’s s a very detailed account of everything that happened before and since.

http://allthingsd.com/20130904/from-can-we-talk-to-a-coffee-table-mishap-the-inside-story-of-microsofts-nokia-purchase/

It’s a slightly long read, but very interesting if you want to know the specifics and the steps between initial talks and signing the final paper. Most interestingly is how hard both sides fought to get control of the HERE maps division, in fact it was almost a deal breaker on several occasions.  The other important was that Elop was NOT spearheading the deal (it was as it should be, headed by the chairman of the board, Risto Siilasmaa), I ‘d like to take this moment to point out that notice how adamant all of the Nokia executives were on keeping control of the profitable portions of Nokia, mainly HERE and NSN, while trying to get rid of the devices division. Because of course Nokia has always been more of a devices company, but what this means is that Elop was NOT a trojan, as so many of you insist. Elop can’t decide to sell Nokia on his own, no more than he can decide to partner up with WP on his own, the CEO is only a face to the leadership of a company; where all major decisions are essentially done by the heads of various departments + the board members. There have been members of the board who showed their lack of confidence in Elop as a CEO, but the majority must have had belief in him or they would have changed him.

Category: Lumia, MeeGo, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone