Lenovo calls rumor about purchase of Nokia "a joke"; Nokia execs buy 1 million shares

Nokia has been the subject of takeover rumors ever since the stock started sliding more than 4 years ago. Recently, the shares slid to a 52 week low of $1.63 before rebounding sharply back over $2.60. Samsung and Microsoft were the two names most associated with the rumor with the latter company the most logical fit because of Nokia's deal with Microsoft for the use of Windows Phone. The latest rumor has Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo buying Nokia. Lenovo has a much smaller footprint in the smartphone business than Nokia. In fact, when word of the rumor reached Gianfranco Lanci who runs the company's operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, he called it a joke and said nothing was happening with Nokia

. Meanwhile, Nokia executives were digging into their wallets to buy more shares of the stock, believing it to be cheap at current prices. Executives of the Finnish based handset manufacturer bought 1 million shares. CEO Stephen Elop purchased 275,000 Nokia shares to bring his cumulative total to 425,000. New chairman Risto Siilasmaa, purchased 333,000 shares while five other executives also bought the stock. The transactions were done last week when Nokia traded between 1.40 to 1.74 EUR ($1.72 to $2.14 USD).

The combination of the Lenovo rumor and the executives stock purchases have Nokia shares up over 8% on Wednesday to $2.61 in NYSE trading. The stock has been strong recently, rising 61% in the last few weeks alone.

source: Reuters, WSJ

Nokia's stock has been red hot over the last 5 trading days