Microsoft Takes $7 Billion Loss on Nokia

I said at the time that then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s 2013 purchase of Nokia for $7.2 billion was a big mistake, but I didn’t know exactly how big.

Now we know:

Microsoft is selling the feature phone business it acquired from Nokia back in 2013 to a subsidiary of Chinese manufacturer Foxconn for $350 million, it announced today.

At the same time former owner Nokia said it has inked a deal to license its brand to HMD Global, a new Finnish company run by ex-Nokia and Microsoft devices staff, to “create a new generation of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets”.

Ballmer’s 14-year tenure as CEO will be remembered for wasted time, wasted effort, and now for a wasted $7 billion dollars.