Microsoft Corp has announced that it is buying Nokia's mobile phone
business for 5.44 billion euros. Below is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's
letter to employees on the acquisition.
From: Steve Ballmer
To: MS FTEs
Date: Sep. 2, 8:00 PM PDT (Sep. 3, 6:00 AM EET)
Subject: Accelerating Growth
We
announced some exciting news today: We have entered into an agreement
to purchase Nokia's Devices & Services business, which includes
their smartphone and mobile phone businesses, their award-winning design
team, manufacturing and assembly facilities around the world, and teams
devoted to operations, sales, marketing and support.
For Microsoft, this is a bold step into the future and the next big phase of the transformation we announced on July 11.
We
are very excited about the proposal to bring the best mobile device
efforts of Microsoft and Nokia together. Our Windows Phone partnership
over the past two and half years has yielded incredible work - the
stunning Lumia 1020 is a great example. Our partnership has also yielded
incredible growth. In fact, Nokia Windows Phones are the
fastest-growing phones in the smartphone market.
Now is the time
to build on this momentum and accelerate our share and profits in
phones. Clearly, greater success with phones will strengthen the overall
opportunity for us and our partners to deliver on our strategy to
create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses
that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for
the activities they value most.
We have laid out Microsoft's strategic rationale for this transaction in a presentation that I encourage you to read.
This
is a smart acquisition for Microsoft, and a good deal for both
companies. We are receiving incredible talent, technology and IP. We've
all seen the amazing work that Nokia and Microsoft have done together.
Given
our long partnership with Nokia and the many key Nokia leaders that are
joining Microsoft, we expect a smooth transition and great execution.
As
is always the case with an acquisition, the first priority is to keep
driving through close, which we expect in the first quarter of 2014,
following approval by Nokia's shareholders, regulatory approvals, and
other closing conditions.
But I also know people will have some
questions about what happens post-close. While details aren't final,
here is what we know, and how we're generally approaching integration:
1.
Stephen Elop will be coming back to Microsoft, and he will lead an
expanded Devices team, which includes all of our current Devices and
Studios work and most of the teams coming over from Nokia, reporting to
me.
2. Julie Larson-Green will continue to run the Devices and
Studios team, and will be focused on the big launches this fall
including Xbox One and our Surface enhancements. Julie will be joining
Stephen's team once the acquisition closes, and will work with him to
shape the new organization.
3. As part of the acquisition, a
number of key engineering leaders will be joining Microsoft from Nokia,
reporting to Stephen in his new capacity: * Jo Harlow, who will continue
to lead the Smart Devices team
* Timo Toikkanen, who will continue to lead the Mobile Phones team
* Stefan Pannenbecker, who will lead Design
* Juha Putkiranta, who will lead the integration effort on Nokia's behalf
4.
Regarding the sales team, we plan to keep the Nokia field team, led by
Chris Weber, intact and as the nexus of the devices sales effort, so
that we can continue to build sales momentum. After the deal closes,
Chris and his team will be placed under Kevin Turner. We will develop a
single integrated team that is selling to operators, and there may be
other integration opportunities that we can pursue. Kevin will work with
Chris Weber and Chris Capossela to make those plans.
5. Our
operating system team under Terry Myerson will continue unchanged, with a
mission of supporting both first-party and third-party hardware
innovation. We are committed to working with partners, helping them
build great products and great businesses on our platform, and we
believe this deal will increase our partner value proposition over time.
The established rhythms and ways of working between Terry and his team
and the incoming Nokia team will serve us well to ensure that we do not
disrupt our building momentum.
6. We are planning to integrate
all global marketing under Tami Reller and Mark Penn. It is very
important that we pursue a unified brand and advertising strategy as
soon as possible.
7. Finance, Legal, HR, Communications, DX /
Evangelism, Customer Care and Business Development will integrate
functionally at Microsoft. Sourcing, customer logistics and supply chain
will be part of Stephen's Devices organization. ICM / IT will also
integrate functionally for traditional IT roles. We will need to work
through the implications for factory systems given the differing
manufacturing processes and systems at both Nokia and Microsoft.
8.
We plan to pursue a single set of supporting services for our devices,
and we will figure out how to combine the great Nokia efforts into our
Microsoft services as we go through the integration process.
9.
There are no significant plans to shift where work is done in the world
as we integrate, so we expect the Nokia teams to stay largely in place,
geographically.
10. Tom Gibbons will lead the integration work
for Microsoft. While today's announcement is big news, we have to stay
heavily focused on running the current business. We have a huge fall and
holiday season ahead of us, so we need to execute flawlessly and
continue to drive our business forward. I have no doubt we will.
Steve Text courtesy: microsoft.com
