Nearly a couple of weeks after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement within the time span of one year, here we are with yet another earth shattering news from Microsoft – the software giant has officially dropped some estimated $7.18 billion to purchase Nokia’s core cellphone business, which marks a rather bold move in an attempt to play catch up with other players such as Apple and Samsung in the fast growing mobile business sector. Part of this agreement would see Microsoft introduce several executives who could eventually take over Mr. Ballmer’s post.Microsoft will fork out a whopping €3.79 billion to purchase “substantially all” of the Nokia business, which will include their crown jewel of smartphone operations. Not only that, another €1.65 billion will have to be forked out to license Nokia’s patents, resulting in a converted price of $7.18 billion. Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO, will not be out of a job as he and several other executives will be absorbed into Microsoft as part of the deal.
Could Mr. Elop eventually end up as Microsoft’s CEO? He was, after all, a former Microsoft executive. This acquisition is evidence that Microsoft knows they need a far stronger hand if they were to play an important role in the mobile phone business, with iOS and Android mobile operating systems being the two 800 lbs gorillas at the moment. [Press Release] — Read the open letter from Steve Balmer and Stephen Elop