back to article Ex-CEO Elop's plunder to total $25m in voyage from Nokia to Microsoft

Outgoing Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will receive compensation and bonuses totaling approximately $25.4m as he departs the company for his new position at Microsoft. The payout was revealed in proxy materials for the Finnish firm's "Extraordinary General Meeting" to be held on November 19, during which shareholders are expected to …

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  1. Jabberwolf

    yawn...

    I wonder if peeps are gonna birth kittens over this.

    Elop bought a lot of Nokia shares with his own money.

    The return is mostly because that stock raised.

    Everyone who invested in Nokia made out with a lot of money because they were all investing when it was at rock bottom.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Devil

      Re: yawn...

      Burning platform my fucking arse.

      That bastard set fire to it himself knowing, no, *ensuring* this is how it would turn out.

      1. Don Jefe

        Re: yawn...

        -Pardon me, your house is on fire.

        :What! No it isn't.

        -Look again.

        :Holy shit!!! When did that happen?

        -When you looked away to see what I wanted.

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: yawn...

      Everyone who invested in Nokia made out with a lot of money because they were all investing when it was at rock bottom.

      Implying it's not still at rock bottom (oh look a dead cat bounce). Now that they burned the mobile division down and will sell it, it's not going up quickly either.

      Lawsuits are gonna fly. I can feel it.

    3. Daniel B.

      Re: yawn...

      The return is mostly because that stock raised.

      Um, raised according to what? From the article:

      By comparison, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the man Elop replaced as chief exec, left Nokia with around $5.8m in severance pay and 100,000 Nokia shares – shares that are now worth 34 per cent less than when Elop took the corner office in 2010.

      Anyone who invested under the assumption that stocks would raise under Elop were screwed over. Badly.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: yawn...

        "shares that are now worth 34 per cent less"

        The Shares were 60% less only a few days ago, the share price doubled after news of the MS takeover.

        Elop stripped 60% off the share value in his tenure, then MS came in and gobbled the company up - and Nokia are giving him a golden goodbye???

        MUGS

    4. Richard Plinston

      Re: yawn...

      > Everyone who invested in Nokia made out with a lot of money because they were all investing when it was at rock bottom.

      You seem to think that there were no shareholders before Elop came on board.

      Lots of investors dropped a bundle when the shares fell to 1/3 their value. The rise from 'rock bottom' is small compared to that.

  2. dervheid

    You know whst they say about Pooh-pooh...

    Never pooh-pooh a pooh-pooh.

    1. MrT

      Morale...

      ...totally destroyed...

  3. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    FAIL

    I think I prefer to have no millions but retain my integrity.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      >I think I prefer to have no millions but retain my integrity.

      It would be nice to try the alternative though....

      1. Goat Jam

        You try, you buy.

        Once you sell your integrity, you can't get it back, even if you are Bill Gates splashing cash around via his self named charity* to try and cleanse himself of his past misdeeds.

        * True charity is done anonymously

        1. Don Jefe
          FAIL

          @Goat Jam

          That's horseshit that 'true charity is done anymomously'. By attaching his name to the foundation it attracts other high value donors and gives people a sense of security that the foundation won't be running out of money any time soon.

          You think he's branding Sub-Saharan children with their fucking logo when they're treated for malaria? Maybe he's spraying all the mosquitos with Linux distribution logos in an incredibly long term strategy to sway public opinion against OSS operating systems?

          Christ almighty Eadon, I'm not a fan of everything Bill Gates did in business but you're just being a burning cock lesion if you can't seperate the real world from fucking Windows.

          1. Goat Jam

            Re: @Goat Jam

            haha you called me Eadon.

            Is everybody who dislikes MS now to be accused of being Eadon?

            Nice rant BTW

            However I would point out that effectively taxing half the planet to the tune of tens of billions of dollars via outright lying and ruthless monopoly abuse is slightly more serious than just "h8ing windoze"

            That's tens of billions of dollars that left normal peoples pockets to fill MS's metaphorical trousers under dubious at best, or illegal at worst, circumstances.

            You have nice day now.

            1. Don Jefe

              Re: @Goat Jam

              Thanks. Since Eadon was keel hauled the opportunities to rant have really gotten scarce. I really didn't think anyone could fill those irrationally sized shoes. It is nice to know that the world keeps on cranking out short sighted people.

              Just think! Without people like you we would all have to step up our games and be a little less stupid. But thankfully you've met the quota for everyone. Thank you for your sacrifice.

              1. The First Dave
                Headmaster

                Re: @Goat Jam

                @Don

                Keep saying "gotten" and I'm sure that a few of us will be happy to keel-haul you too.

              2. Goat Jam

                Re: @Goat Jam

                "Without people like you we would all have to step up our games and be a little less stupid. But thankfully you've met the quota for everyone. Thank you for your sacrifice.'

                Ah yes, personal invective, the last resort of a scoundrel who has no argument to put forth.

                Please point out where anything I said was non-factual. Pointing out facts is not stupid, however much you may like to ignore them.

                Oh, and at least I don't say "gotten"

            2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

              Re: @Goat Jam

              There have been a few investigations where a local government suddenly stopped plans to switch away from Windows after a large Gates foundation donation.

              And like any large charity it is a hedgefund first, to make the money it spends - some of it's investments have been a little less than ethical.

              1. Goat Jam

                Re: @Goat Jam

                Shhh. you'll have Don calling you "stupid" if you keep this up. Don doesn't like it when his world view is challenged.

      2. TheOtherHobbes

        Both is an option.

        Not for Elop - although to be fair, it's still Make Out Like a Pirate Day in the US.

        1. hplasm
          Meh

          It's always

          Make Out Like a Pirate Day, in the US

          1. Intractable Potsherd

            Re: It's always

            Off topic, but how *do* pirates make out? Does Roger the Cabin Boy feature?

            1. Hollerith 1

              Re: It's always

              Usually.

  4. Natalie Gritpants
    Pirate

    He's an Apple mole

    He'll be going to Samsung next.

  5. Don Jefe
    Pirate

    Obligatory

    Avast yur waggin tongues and double the watch. The treacherous pirate Elop approaches to port. Else ya may do lads, don't allow him aboard. He'll buttfuck every last one of yas afore he rapes the holds and scuttles the ship.

    Today as ner before, act as men and seek yur fortunes in the cold depths. A better fortune by far than Elop offers.

  6. Jason Hindle

    To this day, I still think

    That the best way forward for Nokia was to improve the Symbian GUI to a level where it was simply competitive, and make a play for its own distinct ecosystem. They had the numbers back then. They were also stuck up their own arses.

    That's not a complaint about Windows Phone. I carry two Nokia Windows Phone devices (corporate 620 and the personal 720 that I use for local SIM cards when travelling, in addition to my contract Samsung S3), and it's a very competent mobile OS. I wish Microsoft and Micro-Nokia well.

    Then again, Microsoft also had a great mobile OS when the iPhone happened (loved my TyTn). They did less than Nokia and Palm! Sad, isn't it? Google went from a standing start while Nokia merely needed to evolve. The wisdom of hindsight strikes again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To this day, I still think

      A huge undertaking.

      Why do you think they were playing around with Maemo and the like? to get a modern development platform, not some arcane old version of C++.

      Microsoft gave up on Win9x eventually when they make a consumer version of NT. Nokia needed to develop the next gen OS in parallel and then release it with a big fanfare.

      1. asdf

        Re: To this day, I still think

        >arcane old version of C++

        Don't blame C++. Try writing a decent OS with a managed language.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Wowzers

          The payout was revealed in proxy materials for the Finnish firm's "Extraordinary General Meeting" to be held on November 19,

          25 million to a pillock. Extraordinary indeed

    2. Sander van der Wal

      Re: To this day, I still think

      They tried that, buying Trolltech because of Qt. And then they started another internal war, creating two competing UI's with incompatible API's on top of Qt.

      25 million is peanuts compared to the amount of money that stupidest of actions have cost Nokia.

  7. Alan Esworthy
    Flame

    Order

    Elop knows the order: pillage first, then burn.

  8. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Mushroom

    This is illegal isn't it?

    If there's any justice tomorrow someone in the Finnish government will say that they're going to start a long and thoroughly painful investigation, preferably with rubber gloves (made by Nokia).

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: This is illegal isn't it?

      Hell no it isn't illegal. The whole thing is solid gold dickheadedness, but it isn't illegal. They bought Nokia (or a big chunk of it) Elop came with the package.

      It'll be investigated sure, but too many people made too much money off this for any impropriety they did find to amount to much. This is how companies do things, and its all OK as long as enough of the right people get a piece too. It sucks, but that's the way it is.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: This is illegal isn't it?

        Depends - if Elop was working for Microsoft all along rather than in the best interests of Nokia's shareholders then a visit to the naughty step might be in order.

        But since they can't give Nokia it's shareprice back then blocking the deal with MSFT isn't going to be in anybody's interest.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > Outgoing Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will receive compensation and bonuses totaling approximately $25.4m as he departs the company for his new position at Microsoft.

    Compensation? Compensation for what? Didn't he leave of his own choice?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Arr. Do you reckon it be fun and dances waiting a long time on a burning galleon? Even if he put on the course for Davy Jones' locker himself.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      >Compensation? Compensation for what?

      'merkins say "compensation" when they mean "compensation" and also when they mean "remuneration." Something to do with being only partially literate I imagine. Anyway, this appears to be a case of the latter - someone can't find "remuneration" in their dialect.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Perhaps they misheard consideration.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stephen Elop == perkeleen vittupää

  11. Mephistro
    Happy

    Nokia Negotiator: "All right, we'll sell you the Mobile Division, but with the condition that you also take away Elop."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, that is indeed to look at the bright side.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Or:

      Nokia Negotiator: "Please, will you take Elop back? He's destroying our company and corporate culture."

      Microshaft: "All right, but we'll want the Mobile Division as compensation."

      Nokia Negotiator: "Done."

      Microshaft: "You have been."

  12. FordPrefect

    Talk about payment for failure!

    1. asdf

      not really

      There are CEOs who specialize in nothing else but coming into a company and getting it bought out by a larger company. Its quite lucrative for both the CEO and usually the investors in the company being bought.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: not really

        Every time Nokia appears in the news, Juniper Networks must collectively sigh with relief over how they managed to get rid of him in time.

  13. Ron Christian

    How appropriate....

    ....for "talk like a pirate" day.

  14. ecofeco Silver badge
    Pirate

    The Crimson Permanent Assurance

    Arrgghh!

  15. JeevesMkII

    I thought 30 pieces of silver was the more traditional reward...

    1. Don Jefe

      Denarius and shekel exchange rates are at an all time low.

  16. Ashton Black

    Nokia's mobile division? I thought is was one big mobile division, it being a mobile phone company....

    1. Intractable Potsherd

      There's much more to Nokia than phones. Haven't got time to look for links, but there have been several posts on these forums, and a quick search will find it on the wider internet.

  17. Jyve
    Holmes

    Unexpected

    "Rumors that Elop was grooming Nokia for an eventual sale to Microsoft began shortly after he joined the company,"

    After? Before, during, after, and every week until it finally happened. Was incredibly obvious this was MS's plan all along and it was only a matter of time of when, not if.

    Nokia staff leaving knew what was about to happen, for Nokia to feign shock at eventual outcomes is... well, it's not working. But, the right people have had their cut, so business as usual.

  18. MacroRodent
    Facepalm

    "Extraordinary General Meeting"

    Extraordinary indeed! Perhaps I should attend, bringing plenty of popcorn. Not sure how to vote. My few shares are unlikely to sway the result. Perhaps"yes", since NOK went up after the deal, would probably go down seriously if the meeting decides "no".

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There is some latin roman empire related quote/joke here

    I'm sure, but since I don't know latin or the details of roman history, I cannot make it. Surely summarizes perfectly the feeling of treason, lack of motivation and abandon that Nokia employees must be feeling now. Someone please raise and post it, with translation and historical context. I'll upvote.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There is some latin roman empire related quote/joke here

      “Et tu, Brute?”

  20. hammarbtyp
    Thumb Up

    Capitalism

    Don't you love it...

  21. Dan 55 Silver badge
  22. Paul Smith

    "front-runner for the chief executive seat"

    Shares drop 30% plus under his tenure.

    Awesomly distructive internal policies.

    Once mighty organisation utterly humbled.

    On the other hand, as CEO of Microsoft, he would make Ballamer's run look good...

    1. FreeTard

      Re: "front-runner for the chief executive seat"

      I'd say this was always the plan. Balmer : "You go to Nokia, make the shares crash and we'll buy them for a pittance, as recompence you'll get a shed load of cash and I'll make you the new CEO, job done."

      Sounds like a great plan.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: "front-runner for the chief executive seat"

        I hope they remembered not to discuss this using Outlook.com

  23. Sean Timarco Baggaley

    Did anyone *force* Nokia to bring in Elop?

    No?

    Then Nokia's woes are entirely their own damned fault.

    They had Symbian... and let it wither and die through under-investment.

    Their in-house System 40 OS has seen precious little love over the years too.

    They mucked-about with various Linux derivatives and... f*cked those up too.

    By the time Android had reached the point where it could no longer be accused of being a flagrant iOS rip-off, it was too late for Nokia.

    The writing was on the wall when Apple launched their first iPhone and subsequently proceeded to eat Nokia's high-end lunch. Nokia *should* have seen multi-touch devices coming. They didn't. Neither did most of the other incumbents of the day: Whither Sony-Ericsson? Where is LG? Even Motorola is now just a department of Google, Inc. Nokia's management became complacent and, ultimately, incompetent. Today, all they have left is their mobile networks business; their mobile arm was effectively junk long before Elop knocked on their door, so offloading it now is more a case of "What the hell took you so long?" than "Ooh! Elop was a Microsoft mole!"

    This is what competition *means* in a (mostly) Capitalist society: Company A seizes the castle and gets to play king for a while, making it the target for all its rivals. Unlike those rivals, Company A only has to make one serious blunder and one of those rivals will come along, spank their corporate arses, and take over that castle. It then becomes that new company's turn to rule for a bit.

    Rinse and repeat. This corporate success / failure churn is cyclic and fairly predictable.

    It's also why the most successful CEOs don't tend to be nice, friendly little doormats. You don't get to demand such telephone-number deals and salaries unless you have a ruthless streak wider than an airport runway.

  24. This post has been deleted by its author

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    " totaling approximately $25.4m"

    ...AND on which he'll pay only 35% tax under a special "foreign*) key personnel" regulation. (The "normal rate" at that income level would be about 50%).

    http://tinyurl.com/qxf7hda

    Again, Free Market Prevails, and the conspiracy nuts are proven right.

    *) "ulkomainen", perhaps better translated as "outlandish"?

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