The process of development and negotiations of the deal between Microsoft and Nokia
What happens behind closed doors? Few days ago Microsoft and Nokia officially announced that they have completed the negotiations and are ready to close the deal. The subject of the talks between the mobile giants was the acquisition by Microsoft of some of the Nokia’s Devices & Services. After the deal passes through the local authorities, Microsoft will be the new owner of the Lumia and Asha lines.
Since the companies broke the news, many of us are wondering how the giants have reached the agreement. What was the path of negotiations that both companies went through?
Rumors say that the talks were initiated by the CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer. At the beginning of the year he contacted the Chairman of Nokia Risto Siilasmaa. Three months after this phone call in January, the team of Microsoft has held a special presentation to Nokia in New York City. Rumors say that Siilasmaa did not seem impressed by the offer of Microsoft. The presentation was nearly an hour long. The conclusion after it was that both companies have different expectations in terms of pricing. Both companies had differences in the idea for the structure of the deal. Even though the presentation did not win the expected success, the negotiations between Microsoft and Nokia continued.
A new meeting was arranged for May. The talks have marked a progress but not enough to solve the differences. The next meeting was scheduled for June. However it didn’t bring any change in the positions and the progress of the negotiations.
The next meeting in July, in New York marked a significant progress in the talks between the companies. They agreed on the solution that Nokia would keep the mapping service, but Microsoft will have equal rights in terms of ownership. The significant part of the negotiations was solved. The next weeks have been relatively easy for negotiation details about the acquisition. Both companies will sign several contracts with pacts related to trademarks, patents, the smarthphone lines and the mapping service. The deal was officially closed on 2nd of Sept.
Source: AAS
