Nokia House becomes Microsoft House

Good day everyone,

Well……it may not be called Microsoft House officially but there are numerous reports circulating that confirm that Microsoft will be taking residence in the building that used to be Nokia’s Headquarters, aka Nokia House, in Finland. Back in December, 2012, Timo Ihamuotila, CFO, Nokia stated:

“We had a comprehensive sales process with both Finnish and foreign investors and we are very pleased with this outcome. As we have said before, owning real estate is not part of Nokia’s core business and when good opportunities arise we are willing to exit these types of non-core assets. We are naturally continuing to operate in our head office building on a long-term basis.”

Who would have known that it would be Microsoft that would take the reins of Nokia’s iconic and architecturally and geographically beautiful, ex-headquarters building nearly a year later.

From yle:

“The space is currently owned by the property investment and management company Exilion, since Nokia surrendered ownership in a sale-and-lease-back arrangement commonly used in corporate circles. At the time Nokia pocketed 170 million euros in the transaction.”

From The Economic Times:

“As the majority of employees currently working at our corporate headquarters  are focused on Devices & Services (D&S) activities and support  functions, Nokia House will become a Microsoft site once the deal closes,” a  Nokia global spokesperson told PTI.

Besides, some employees will join its research teams in Open Innovation House in  Otaniemi, Espoo.
“Preparations for the integration continue as planned.  Earlier today, we communicated to our Nokia House based employees about their  expected future work location,” he said.
“People working in Nokia management and support functions will be located in  Karaportti Midpoint, the spokesperson said adding the headquarters for HERE  (Nokia’s location services) and NSN (telecom equipment business) continue as normal.”

The news is spreading around the world with mixed reactions based on the information that has been provided thus far. MNB readers, what is your take on this information? Have things come full circle for Microsoft? Well……all I can say is that I never imagined Nokia would end up where it is now as a whole. Putting things into perspective, neither did people who were around when Nokia transitioned from making rubber boots….

Before anyone says it…. NO, Microsoft is NOT buying Nokia! 🙂

Take care everyone,

Deaconclgi

Thanks jiipee and Alvester for the tip!

Sources: yle uutiset, The Economic Times , Google

Category: Nokia