Nokia shareholders approved the 5.4 billion euros ($7.4 billion) sale of the company's mobile phone business to Microsoft, deciding the deal's monetary financial outweighed any objections to the loss of a Finnish national quality.
Investors holding more than 99% of Nokia voting rights supported the deal, according to a final tally at Tuesday's shareholders meeting in Helsinki. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of next year after regulatory clearances. Nokia had agreed in September to sell its 'Devices & services business' and licence to Microsoft after failing to recover from a late start in smartphones.
Matti Pirkola, a 58-year-old shareholder of Nokia said, "I think it's a fair price if you think about the situation right now," as he arrived for the meeting in Helsinki's Ice Hall arena. Pirkola had been a Nokia shareholder since the early 1980s, when he worked for the company for a few years. "I think Nokia could have chosen another option a few years ago, but now there are no other alternatives," he said.
Since the deal was announced, Nokia's shares have been doubled, closing at 5.82 euros on Tuesday. They had slumped stunningly from a 2000 peak of 65 euros and last year fell as low as 1.33 euros on worries the mobile phone business would burn through money before it might catch up with rivals like Samsung electronics Co and Apple inc.
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