Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) investors cleared the sale of its mobile-phone unit to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in a 5.44 billion-euro ($7.4 billion) deal, unshackling the Finnish company from the unprofitable division and letting it focus on networks.
Shareholders meeting in Helsinki yesterday approved the disposal of the business that makes Lumia smartphones and Asha feature phones to the software giant, Nokia officials announced at the event. More than 99 percent voted in favor of the deal.
The sale lets Espoo, Finland-based Nokia concentrate on its network-equipment unit while freeing it from a shrinking business that struggled to gain ground against Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. The deal is the largest strategic change for Nokia since it stopped making rubber boots and tires and left businesses such as paper more than two decades ago.
“Continuing our existing strategy would have resulted in great difficulties,” Chairman Risto Siilasmaa told investors. “We have no doubt that this is the right decision.”
