“According to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, Nokia is set to begin discussing the possibility selling its cell phone business to Microsoft,” Zach Epstein reports for BGR.
“The blogger, who has a proven track record of disseminating accurate intel, says negotiations will begin next week and the results will not immediately be made public,” Epstein reports. “If the two giants do work out a sale, however, it could close before the end of 2011.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]
What a bunch of losers !!
I mean… isn’t it obvious that this is where it’s going? MS has done this time and time again… start with an open platform, fail, then zero in on one exclusive partner, screwing the others (ala BlowsForSure). So if MS buys up Nokia hardware they can actually do integrated devices just like Apple…
Birds of same feather, flock together ! is in’t it wonderful !!
I knew it! I saw this coming the moment Nokia hired one of Microsoft’s former executives. He moved in, cleaned house of all the deadwood in preparation for a takeover by Microsoft.
Anyone who didn’t see this coming is thick. Microsoft is not subtle and have always telegraphed their punches. Gawd they’re so predictable.
Skype will be churned into butter, never to be seen again.
I never ceases to amaze me, how utterly stupid some people are. It is even more amazing when those people are in positions of some importance. Not important to me personally but to many people who may depend on the actions of said persons for their substance. May Ballmer remain for as long as it takes!
Here here! Ballmer as M$ CEO FOREVER!
“Ballmer as M$ CEO FOREVER!”
Or until they shut their doors… May that be sooner than later.
WOW! That’s a hell of a Trojan Horse! Send one of your top execs to head up another company, then have him sell it too you (probably at a cheap rate). What does Nokia’s board think about all this??
“Maaah! Maaaaah!” says the sheep!
What other “units” do they have that are worth anything?
Basically Nokia is admitting total failure with this move, and wisely, will sell off the remains for MS to finish destroying ala Danger. Wow! Another master class in hubris and failure for prospective MBAs.
They have a lot of backend and cell tower systems in addition to Nokian Tires I still believe is in their portfolio (tires is how it started.)
Microsoft and Nokia is a match in hell that will bring down both the 2 mobile brands. I will have to get more popcorn.
Nope. Not tires, but wellingtons. (gumboots for those on the other side of the pond)
Nokia is no longer in the rubber business- solely telecommunications now. Yes, losing mobile phones, even just consumer phones, would basically be the end of ‘Nokia’ as a brand. Makes this story almost out of the realm of the believable, but, with µ$oft involved, not impossible.
Nokia will hold on to their patents and the executives will bleed the cell phone industry dry while living in first class with lots of hookers and beer.
Nokia saw that Microsoft paid over the odds for Skype and decided that there is no other company stupid enough to make a generous offer for Nokia.
Nokia needed to move swiftly before Ballmer gets fired.
That’s the first thing that popped in my mind too. I was going to comment on it, then noticed yours. I can start a chair repair shop, and am willing to sell it to MS retroactively, should Mr. Ballmer be interested. I won’t ask for $8.5 billion, I promise.
What a delightful idea, get Ballmer back into the MS money pile with his big shovel, to pay billions for something nearly worthless. Several billion here and there, after a while it’s not such a big pile. Too bad he backed out of the Yahoo purchase.
It all makes sense now. Microsoft didn’t care that the purchase of Skype didn’t include the telephony IP. That isn’t what they were after. They wanted to corral the millions of Skype accounts and put them out to pasture.
Microsoft will bury all those accounts, and by proxy, kill off a huge segment of those living outside the telcom industry.
It’s either that or, they’re going to compete directly with the telcom’s by promoting internet telecommunications is a very big way.
Which makes more sense?
What remains to be answered is, did Microsoft pay three-times the worth of Skype just to get their hands on Skype’s core telephony IP, which is still in possession of the original creators, last time I checked.
If they didn’t, then the notion that Microsoft is getting into the internet phone business is a red herring.
Microsoft may think that, with Skype gone, MSN will revive, but that will not happen either.
umm. So, in other news, Chrysler may sell it’s automotive business to General Motors to concentrate on on other areas. . .
Now google just needs to pretend it is interested and M$ will be paying double Nokia’s value. As Bugs would say “What a bunch of maroons!”
What would Nokia do after it sells it phone business. It is like saying Ford would be selling off it’s automotive division. Nokia started off as a paper company, maybe it is back to old drawing pad and supplies.
Ridiculous.
No, Nokia will not sell its “cell phone” division to Microsoft. That is their primary business and they are perhaps the largest in the world. Microsoft is desparate to get Nokia to use their software on all their phones but that does not mean Nokia would be bought by Microsoft.
Ridiculous article that will only rattle the stock market unnecessarily.
Remember burning platforms? Jump or perish – Nokia is learning what it means to be Elopped.
It really doesn’t matter how large or strong you are when there’s a predatory virus in your brain.
That is the end of Nokia
No surprise at this development. Buying a leaky boat and then exchanging a life preserver for an anvil seems counter-intuitive.
LOL
I do believe so because Microsoft is buying every piece of $hit that gets on it’s way at a very over valued price.
@AlanAudio
That was too funny! Should have been illegal to post without a warning.
Jean-Louis Gassee, former CEO of Apple, just wrote yesterday in his weekly blog, MondayNote, that he thought Microsoft purchasing Nokia was a far smarter move by Ballmer than buying Skype.
Jean-Louis wants Microsoft to think that. Saying things like that is like waving a red flag in front of a Bull(mer).
Uh, Gassee was never CEO of Apple. He was VP of product development, I believe.
Hire a N$ exec, adopt Windoze & sell out to M$.
What else would you expect.
This is probably the smartest thing on Ballmer’s career.
Nah, smartest thing on Elsop’s career. Can’t get that CEO title at Microsoft? Move to another company, get the poison pill or golden parachute all squared away, then sell it to M$.
Nokia already effectively sold the a big chunk of the phone business to MS by forging the Win7 deal. What’s to stop Nokia from cashing in a second time from the big spenders in Redmond?
YES Nokia no longer a giant if that happens, not outside Scandinavia anyway.
another circle in Nokia’s death spiral … and today Nokia announced the end of Ovi – it’s intended future ecosystem that would compete with all the others. MS will take over the media and app stores for Nokia’s W7 smartphones, leaving “Nokia Services” with the fast shrinking feature phone leftovers.
poor Finland. watching the onetime business Pride of Finland gutted from the inside and handed to an American company.
A huge sign has just been erected in Cupertino “Hip Hip Hooray”! This slays 2 dragons with one swipe of the sword. MS will undoubtedly, systematically destroy any leverage or market share that Nokia had in the smartphone market probably within a year of taking control. Unless they decide to dump Ballmer at the same time, but I don’t see that happening too soon. I knew this was going to be a good day 🙂
Funural parade for Nokia to follow
@tom
Hey, I wonder if a third dragon (skype) won’t be slain of late by M¢ as well… Cupertino’s got to be in a partying mood these days! Opens a major door for Facetime to really take off as it were.
You go Ballmy, you da Man!
I once worked for a company that licensed some software to Nokia that got included in handsets. My impressions was that it was a _very_ well run company, with one under-reported company trait. When they think that the market is changing, they shed their skin and move on to something else. They are excellent at looking at long-term trends and re-inventing themselves. Over their long history, they’ve been a paper company, produced clothing for a while, and they had a large business in TVs/consumer electronics for a while. If they are looking to sell the phone unit to Microsoft, it may just be time for Nokia to re-invent themselves, yet again.
Hey, if Nokia can get MS to pay billions for their sinking ship, I say go for it. I love seeing MS lose money.