Nokia's Elop Set To Receive $25 Million Bonus After Acquisition 196
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."
Re:Nokia was RIPPED OFF! (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm a flamingly liberal academic. I have no understanding of business. I don't worship at the altar of "free market economics solves all problems," so I wouldn't be surprised if there were an obvious reason such wasteful spending isn't going extinct. Still, a simpler explanation would be that these executives actually DO make decisions which justify their absurd paychecks, or at least make it worth it to a company.
So seriously, what's the deal?
Why all the complacency? (Score:5, Interesting)
I knew this was going to happen. EVERYONE knew this was going to happen the moment we heard a Microsoft guy was going to be put in charge. EVERY step this guy has taken has led to this.
I always remember Nokia as being a point of national pride for the finns! They loved to brag about it, being in the forefront of a hot and growing tech industry. Why are they letting an American company walk in and scoop it all up in what is essentially a giant fraudulent business exchange? So many high-tech jobs lost. Where is the outrage?
I know Finland isn't the US, but why haven't executives been hauled in front of whatever the equivalent of congress is there to explain why a key industry has been sabotaged and sold overseas?
Good news for Jolla (Score:5, Interesting)
Given that Jolla is having their second round of pre-orders today (in Finland only), I expect Finns, angry at the looting of one of Finland's biggest and most well-known companies by Microsoft, are more likely than ever to throw money at a Finnish phone maker founded by ex-Nokia guys who quit and/or were fired under Elop...
Quoting directly from VentureBeat (Score:5, Interesting)
"A high ranking VP of a corporate giant becomes the new CEO of a company in a different business, in a different country. He doesn’t sell his home in Seattle, nor does his family move with him, even though he’s ostensibly going to be there permanently. Over the next three years, he makes counterintuitive decisions that abandon his new company’s core strengths, and their value plummets to a tiny fraction of what it was.
You get the idea. Essentially, the theory here — and this has been floating around for a while — is that Stephen Elop became the CEO of Nokia to soften the company up for the Microsoft takeover left Nokia without its hardware business."
It is so blindingly obvious. If anyone doesn't see this, they are beyond hope. One might quote the Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice....", but it simply does not account for the amount of maneuvering and the number of counterintuitive senseless decisions that made this acquisition possible. What is more applicable is: "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,.....".
Re:A comparison (Score:5, Interesting)
No. That's like a salvage company taking over the sunken ship for pennies and rehiring the captain they sent there.
Corporate assasination is relatively easy. Corporate poisoning is difficult. He had to make Nokia cheap as fast as possible but without completely killing it or losing the technological potential or IP assets. Plus, narrowly avoid crossing the line that would cause either legal problems or massive shareholder outrage. That's a hard job. The bonus is well earned.