Nokia is drawing from the executive ranks of Microsoft to fill its chief position. Nokia's board has appointed Stephen Elop, head of Microsoft's Business Division, as its new president and CEO. Elop will take the reigns on Sept. 21.
In Elop, Nokia sees a fix to its market woes. Elop has a strong diversity of experience in the tech industry. Before joining Microsoft, he held senior executive positions in a number of U.S.-based public companies, including Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems and Macromedia.
But it's not clear if he can turn around Nokia's with its Symbian operating system, which has lost market share to Android and Apple. Symbian held 47 percent of the market in 2009, but could dip to 30 percent by 2014, Gartner predicted. In fact, Gartner said Android may run neck and neck with Symbian at 30 percent within four years.
Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Nokia Board of Directors, said the time is right to accelerate the company's renewal, and to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success.
"His strong software background and proven record in change management will be valuable assets as we press harder to complete the transformation of the company," Ollila said. "We believe that Stephen will be able to drive both innovation and efficient execution of the company strategy in order to deliver increased value to our shareholders."
Nokia did not disclose Elop's compensation package yet. It should come out in the regulatory filings next week. But Elop may have been attracted to Nokia by the challenge of the turnaround. He said he is "extremely excited" to become part of the team that's working to strengthen Nokia's position in the mobile communications industry.
"Nokia has a unique global position as well as a great brand upon...
Posted: 2010-09-11 09:44:47
