Microsoft Sells Nokia to Foxconn for $350 Million
Microsoft just cleaned up another part of its Nokia blunder just recently, selling Nokia for $350 million to Chinese manufacturer Foxconn. This deal will give FIH Mobile, a Foxconn company, the right to use the Nokia brand, and 4,500 employees will also be working for the new company. Also, as part of the deal, FIH Mobile Ltd. will also acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam — the company’s manufacturing facility in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Making Sense of the Microsoft-Foxconn Deal
This Microsoft-Foxconn deal is a way of cashing in on a liability. A chart from Statista, shared by Business Insider, shows, Nokia’s smartphone business being on a steep descent when Bill Gate’s company bought it last 2014. Nokia’s total phone sales peaked in late 2010 at over 120 million then the company signed its smartphone platform deal with Microsoft the following quarter. But by the time Microsoft acquired it, its annual sales had already been cut in half.
The official Microsoft press release reports that the deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.