Finnish vendor Nokia has announced that CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has stepped down with immediate effect. He is to be replaced by Stephen Elop, head of Microsoft’s business division, on September 21, the company said.
Although Kallasvuo is also departing…
Finnish vendor Nokia has announced that CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has stepped down with immediate effect. He is to be replaced by Stephen Elop, head of Microsoft’s business division, on September 21, the company said.
Although Kallasvuo is also departing his position on Nokia’s board, he will continue to chair vendor JV Nokia Siemens Networks in a non-executive capacity.
In a statement, Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila said: “The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success … We believe that Stephen will be able to drive both innovation and efficient execution of the company strategy in order to deliver increased value to our shareholders.”
The announcement follows recent speculation that Kallasvuo was under pressure because of falling profits at Nokia, whose smartphones appear to be losing ground against the likes of Google and Apple.
According to RBS analyst Didier Scemama, Nokia’s entire top management could also be under threat if they continue to be perceived as unwilling to take bold steps in the smartphone market. Welcoming Elop’s appointment, he warned however that the new CEO faces heavy resistance to implementing the crucial changes such as embracing third party operating systems such as Google’s Android. He added that the next step for Elop would be to surround himself with a team he can trust.
Kallasvuo had been tenaciously hanging onto his position after Nokia posted Q2 2010 net profits at E104m, down from E287m in the same period last year. Sales were up 1% at E10bn.
In July, Kallasvuo called rumours around his possible sacking “detrimental”, adding that he was hoping for some kind of resolution either way. At the time, remain as CEO, Kallasvuo said that that was a matter for Nokia’s chairman, Jorma Ollila.
