After a summer of searching, Finland-based Nokia has chosen a new CEO: Stephen Elop, the president of Microsoft’s Business division.Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Nokia was unhappy with the leadership of CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, especially in the realm of smartphones. The mobile giant has lost considerable ground over the last few years to the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform. The result has been a 40% drop in profits in the last year alone.
“The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success,” Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila said in a statement. “The Nokia Board believes that Stephen has the right industry experience and leadership skills to realize the full potential of Nokia.”
Elop has been with Microsoft since January 2008. As president of Microsoft’s Business Division, he was responsible for one of the company’s most profitable divisions and oversaw development of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Dynamics and other enterprise products. Before Microsoft, Elop was COO of Juniper Networks, president of worldwide field operations at Adobe, and the CEO of Macromedia until its acquisition by Adobe.
Nokia’s current CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will be stepping down from his position on September 20, as well as vacating his seat on the Board of Directors. Don’t feel too bad for Kallasvuo though; he will receive 4.6 million euros in severance and the “fair market value” of 100,000 Nokia shares (around $1 million in value at the close of trading Thursday).
Nokia’s been in desperate need of fresh leadership and new blood; it has been very slow to respond to the rise of dynamic touchscreen smartphones that Apple and Google have now popularized. Elop successfully launched Microsoft Office 2010, leading his division to record profits. Nokia’s hoping that he can perform the same magic on its fledgling line of mobile devices.