Shareholders of Nokia plan b give up after 36 hours

Yesterday we reported some shareholders of Nokia offered a plan b for the company who also wrote a long list of suggestions. The Group of nine young Nokia shareholders was planning to challenge the company's strategy and the partnership with Microsoft in the next annual general meeting scheduled for May 3, 2011. After 36 hours, however, the Group withdrew.

The nine wanted to change the current management seriously, which included getting the expulsion of Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop. They argued that Nokia will maintain ownership and control of the level of its software products because the software is where the value of innovation, differentiation and shareholder more easily can be created. They also wanted a renewal in hiring strategy, the Elimination of outdated and bureaucratic R&D practices and at all costs avoid becoming "a poorly differentiated OEM".

Now, all that went out the window. Are cited two reasons: for the moment their plan also came to fruition, the most talented software developers to Nokia would've gone, and institutional investors who own most stocks of Nokia have told them that their fiduciary liability through bars them with an activist. You can read the full decision output, aptly named call closes, below:

After reviewing the feedback we received from investors on our plan B, we decided not to continue with it.

In the last 36 hours we were contacted by hundreds of individual shareholders (anywhere from 10 to 400 000 Nokia shares) with a commitment to support us by voting by proxy or in person by attending the AGM.

However, the responses we received from institutional investors were not encouraging. These institutions have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients and are legally bared by supporting initiatives radicals such as seating a bunch of children on board. If you do not agree with Nokia plans, are better simply transfer and put their money into companies that best fit their investment strategy (which is exactly what they did).

We also understand that by the time that our plan b would kick in, most of the remaining software talent in Nokia would have already left the company, so it really would be an uphill battle to collect things from there.

This is from us. It is up to you what to do with your money. We'll stop short of endorsing NokiaPlanC.com or NokiaPlanX.com, even if we think that they are both excellent ideas.