Nokia denies Microsoft is lining up offer
BELEAGUERED Nokia was yesterday forced to deny speculation it is in talks to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft.
The Finnish manufacturer described the report – by the same industry insider who predicted its tie-up with the software giant earlier this year – as “100 per cent baseless”.
Eldar Murtazin says Microsoft is lining up a massive $19bn (£1.6m) buyout of the firm, eclipsing the $8.5bn it paid last month for Skype.
The rumours came as Nokia’s shares continued to fall after Tuesday’s 18 per cent collapse. Nokia ended the day 7.1 per cent lower, rallying slightly on the bid talks but still down following the drastic announcement that it has abandoned its recently-set profit targets.
It said on Tuesday weak sales and price cuts had hit its already declining sales and said it may not make a profit this quarter. Microsoft’s shares were dragged down 2.3 per cent by the speculation.
Microsoft and Nokia struck a deal earlier this year in which the Finnish company agreed to use Windows Phone 7 software on its phones, effectively killing off its Symbian operating system.
Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop – an ex-Microsoft executive – masterminded the deal alongside his former boss Steve Ballmer.
Both men have come under pressure from investors in recent weeks as they struggle to revive the respective fortunes of their formerly dominant companies. Ballmer has stressed the importance of mobile devices after seeing Google’s Android rise to dominate the smartphone market and Apple corner the tablet sphere.