Nokia CEO: Microsoft us billions, I'm not a Trojan horse

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, a former head of Microsoft, is to defend the company has decided to move to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform and cut thousands of jobs. He told analysts and practitioners that, apart from the benefits of the Alliance that have already been explained, Microsoft is paying Nokia billion as part of the transaction.

"For all unique items that Nokia is contributing, including swing factor, including the decision to make Windows Phone challenger, Microsoft is contributing to substantial monetary value to Nokia Nokia, because we are helping all these unique things," said Elop at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "During our investor briefing upon a slide where we had only one row with little green checkmarks saying ' marketing ' and other investments from Microsoft to Nokia. I think some people interpreted as something that should be measured in millions or tens of millions of people, as are most of the transfers of marketing value. In fact, when you look at all the value that we are helping and the uniqueness of what we bring to the table as part of this transaction, the value transferred to Nokia is measured in Bs, not Ms. "

At the event in Barcelona, Elop was also asked if he was a "Trojan horse". Since Elop has worked for Microsoft since January 2008 through September 2010 as head of Business software giants, the obvious implication is that Microsoft he planted to Nokia to steer the company in a direction favorable to the software giant. Nokia has also recently appointed Chris Weber, former Corporate Vice President, us Enterprise leader of Microsoft and Partner Group, as Chairman of Nokia (United States) and head of the markets in North America.

Of course, Elop denied insinuation. "The obvious answer is no," he said. "We made sure that the entire management team has been involved in the process, and of course the Nokia Board of Directors is the only ones who can make this important decision on Nokia. Made the final decision on Thursday night. "

Elop responded also confirmed that Microsoft had quotas, saying that it has stopped selling its shares before the announcement of the deal last week, as required by law. "To me, being the seventh largest shareholder of Microsoft: this is not true," he said. "It would be a significant amount of money that I didn't. When I moved from Microsoft to Nokia, I was legally forbidden to sell my shares. Just that lifted, I started to sell. But when he started our discussions, I had to stop selling yet; the laws are very clear. As soon as the legal restrictions, of course you can sell Lift those quotas. " Elop holds shares of approximately 130,000 worth 3.18 million.

Nokia fans should not see this as a kind of betrayal. As Elop scored his position, it does not matter: the fact is that all Nokia management chosen unanimously Windows phone. What can we say, however, is that since Elop has a close relationship with Microsoft, he will work twice as hard to make sure that the deal completes.