CEO Nokia sells Microsoft shares

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has sold his shares in Microsoft, while he has bought shares in Nokia worth a million euros. The CEO was previously not allowed to do that, because he was in secret negotiations with Microsoft for Nokia.

The transactions become reported by news agency Reuters based on a message from Elop himself. The fact that Elop turned out to be a shareholder of the company where he worked until September and with which he announced an important partnership, formed the basis for theories that he was brought to Nokia as a ‘trojan horse’ to induce the company to switch to Windows Phone .

Elop debunked those theories, arguing that Microsoft was the most logical partner. Nokia would also have sat around the table with Google and RIM, among others, to make devices based on Android or BlackBerry OS. Nokia announced last week that it would start a partnership with Microsoft for the exchange of services, such as Microsoft’s Bing and Nokia’s navigation program Ovi Maps. In addition, Nokia will phase out Symbian and make smartphones with Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.

The Nokia CEO was previously not allowed to sell his Microsoft shares because he was in talks with Microsoft about a collaboration. In addition, selling Microsoft’s stock could be seen as insider trading.