After Losing $11 Billion on $9.4-Billion Nokia Buy & Axing 27,650 Jobs, Microsoft Dumps Consumer Smartphones

by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

Another Blistering Merger Fail, but Wall Street wins again.

Microsoft entered the final-final or pre-final-final episode of its Nokia saga. Its press release on Wednesday explained that it would “streamline” its smartphone hardware business. It would throw in the towel on smartphones for consumers and try to carve out a niche in corporate smartphones. It would be accompanied by more bloodletting.

With its usual big-money genius, Microsoft had acquired Nokia’s mobile-phone business and patents In September 2013. Nokia’s credit rating was junk. Its market share had collapsed. It had lost over $4 billion the prior year. But its smartphones were using the Windows Phones operating system.

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