[lerpoel]

That jump, however stupid it was at the time, is the key to Nokia existing at all in its current form.

The Nokia management used the Microsoft money to buy Siemens part of NSN (Nokia Siemens Networks) and managed to turn it around somewhat, in a situation where it looked like Ericsson and Huawei were going to be the only survivors.

I was working for a subcontractor to Nokia during 2010-2016 and we were dumbfounded in the beginning, but as the years went on that turned into a belief that Nokia scammed Microsoft in that sale.

[ahje]

> a belief that Nokia scammed Microsoft in that sale

That's what I've heard too -- They knew they were going down and simply took the opportunity to dump the handset business on Microsoft while securing funding to allow the network business to grow.

[dx034]

No matter who got the better deal, I wouldn't call it a scam if two billion $ companies agree on a price for a business after due diligence. Sometimes both win (because one can use the asset better than the other), sometimes the price is too high or too low. Doesn't mean they got scammed.

[ahje]

I doubt we'll ever get the full story of what happened, and how much Nokia told Microsoft of the state of the business that changed hands. But you are, of course, right; it could just as well have been a really, really bad business deal for Microsoft.

[ThrowawayR2]

> "...it could just as well have been a really, really bad business deal for Microsoft."

I think that's the more likely explanation. Remember that Steve Ballmer was crazy enough to also try to buy Yahoo, which would have been an even bigger disaster for Microsoft.