Nokia finalizes Siemens Network acquisition, might cut 8500 jobs
After officially announcing it will fully acquire the Nokia Siemens Network, buying out Siemens’ share, Nokia has now confirmed it has finalized the deal and it is now the sole owner of the NSN. Today, Nokia is also renaming the division to Nokia Solutions and Networks, retaining the familiar NSN abbreviation, but with a different meaning.
Nokia paid 1.7 billion euro (around $2.3 billion) in order to get full ownership of the Nokia Siemens Network, one of the largest network equipments providers globally. NSN is the only profitable part of Nokia group. After completing it, Nokia now has full access to Nokia Siemens money.
After the acquisitions, rumors surfaced that Nokia plans on cutting a whopping 8500 jobs in ‘optimizations’ designed to boost profitability. NSN employs 50 500 people across the globe at the end of June and that number might drop to 42 000, a massive 17% cut. Sales of NSN facilities in Finland, India and China are also under consideration. None of those decisions is final, though, but judging from the more than 20 000 slashed jobs, more cuts are coming as Ericsson and Huawei are getting more competitive in network equipment.
Espoo, Finland - Nokia has completed the acquisition of Siemens' stake in Nokia Siemens Networks. The transaction was originally announced on July 1, 2013.
In accordance with this transaction, the Siemens name is being phased out from Nokia Siemens Networks' company name and branding. The new name and brand is Nokia Solutions and Networks, also referred to as NSN, which will be used also for financial reporting purposes.
Nokia Solutions and Networks is wholly owned by Nokia and will continue to be consolidated by Nokia.
Rajeev Suri continues as CEO and Jesper Ovesen continues as Executive Chairman of the NSN Board of Directors. The NSN Board of Directors has been adjusted to the new ownership structure as the Siemens-appointed directors have resigned.
About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia's technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.
NSN
NSN is the world's specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world's most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly.
Disclaimer
Nokia Siemens Networks is renamed as Nokia Solutions and Networks, also referred to as NSN, and the terms "Nokia Solutions and Networks", "NSN" and "Nokia Siemens Networks" can be used interchangeably in this release.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that Nokia and its business are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the expected plans and benefits of our partnership with Microsoft to bring together complementary assets and expertise to form a global mobile ecosystem for smartphones; B) the timing and expected benefits of our strategies, including expected operational and financial benefits and targets as well as changes in leadership and operational structure; C) the timing of the deliveries of our products and services; D) our ability to innovate, develop, execute and commercialize new technologies, products and services; E) expectations regarding market developments and structural changes; F) expectations and targets regarding our industry volumes, market share, prices, net sales and margins of our products and services; G) expectations and targets regarding our operational priorities and results of operations; H) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements; I) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; J) expectations regarding the successful completion of restructurings, investments, acquisitions and divestments on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, divestments and acquisitions, as well as any expected plans and benefits related to or caused by such transactions; and K) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "aim", "plans," "intends," "will" or similar expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our ability to make the Windows Phone ecosystem a competitive and profitable global ecosystem that achieves sufficient scale, value and attractiveness to relevant market participants, making Nokia products with Windows Phone a competitive choice for consumers; 2) our success in the smartphone market, including our ability to introduce and bring to market quantities of attractive, competitively priced Nokia products with Windows Phone that are positively differentiated from our competitors' products, both outside and within the Windows Phone ecosystem; 3) our ability to produce attractive and competitive devices in our Mobile Phones business unit, including feature phones and devices with features such as full touch that can be categorized as smartphones, in a timely and cost efficient manner with differentiated hardware, software, localized services and applications; 4) the success of our HERE strategy, including our ability to establish a successful location-based platform and extend our location-based services across devices and operating systems; 5) our ability to provide support for our Devices & Services business and maintain current and create new sources of revenue from our location-based service and commerce assets; 6) our ability to protect numerous patented standardized or proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 7) our ability to maintain the existing sources of intellectual property related revenue and establish new such sources; 8) the intensity of competition in the various markets where we do business and our ability to maintain or improve our market position or respond successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 9) our ability to keep momentum and increase our speed of innovation, product development and execution in order to bring new innovative and competitive mobile products and location-based or other services to the market in a timely manner; 10) the success of our partnership with Microsoft in connection with the Windows Phone ecosystem; 11) our ability to effectively and smoothly implement the planned changes in our operational structure and achieve targeted efficiencies and reductions in operating expenses and our ability to complete the planned divestments and acquisition, including obtaining any needed regulatory approvals; 12) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 13) our dependence on the development of the mobile and communications industry, including location-based and other services industries, in numerous diverse markets, as well as on general economic conditions globally and regionally; 14) our ability to maintain and leverage our traditional strengths in the mobile products market, especially if we are unable retain the loyalty of our mobile operator and distributor customers and consumers as a result of the implementation of our strategies or other factors; 15) the performance of the parties we partner and collaborate with, including Microsoft and our ability to achieve successful collaboration or partnering arrangements; 16) our ability to deliver our mobile products profitably, in line with quality requirements and on time, especially if the limited number of suppliers we depend on, many of which are geographically concentrated with a majority based in Asia, fail to deliver sufficient quantities of fully functional products, components, sub-assemblies, software and services on favorable terms and in compliance with our supplier requirements; 17) our ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing and logistics, as well as to ensure the quality, safety, security and timely delivery of our products and services; 18) any actual or even alleged defects or other quality, safety and security issues in our products; 19) any inefficiency, malfunction or disruption of a system or network that our operations rely on; 20) the impact of cybersecurity breach or other factors leading to an actual or alleged loss, improper disclosure or leakage of any personal or consumer data collected by us or our partners or subcontractors, made available to us or stored in or through our products; 21) our ability to successfully manage the pricing of our products and costs related to our products and our operations; 22) the potential complex tax issues and obligations we may face, including the obligation to pay additional taxes in various jurisdictions and our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, could result in allowances related to deferred tax assets; 23) exchange rate fluctuations, particularly between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, as well as certain other currencies; 24) our ability to protect the technologies, which we or others develop or which we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our product and services; 25) the impact of economic, regulatory, political or other development on our sales, manufacturing facilities and assets located in emerging market countries as well as the impact of regulations against imports to those countries; 26) the impact of changes in and enforcement of government policies, technical standards, trade policies, laws or regulations in countries where our assets are located and where we do business; 27) investigations or claims by contracting parties in relation to exits from countries, areas or contractual arrangements; 28) unfavorable outcome of litigation, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; 29) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile devices, and the lawsuits and publicity related to them, regardless of merit; 30) Nokia Solutions and Networks' (renamed from Nokia Siemens Networks) success in the mobile broadband infrastructure and related services market and its ability to effectively, profitably and timely adapt business and operations to the diverse needs of its customers; 31) Nokia Solutions and Networks' ability to maintain and improve its market position and respond successfully to changes and competition in the mobile broadband infrastructure and related services market; 32) Nokia Solutions and Networks' success in implementing its restructuring plan and reducing its operating expenses and other costs; 33) Nokia Solutions and Networks' ability to invest in and timely introduce new competitive products, services, upgrades and technologies; 34) Nokia Solutions and Networks' dependence on limited number of customers and large, multi-year contracts; 35) Nokia Solutions and Networks' liquidity and its ability to meet its working capital requirements, including access to available credit under its financing arrangements and other credit lines as well as cash at hand; 36) the management of Nokia Solutions and Networks' customer financing exposure; 37) whether ongoing or any additional governmental investigations of alleged violations of law by some former employees of Siemens may involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia Siemens Networks (renamed Nokia Solutions and Networks); 38) any impairment of Nokia Solutions and Networks' customer relationships resulting from ongoing or any additional governmental investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks (renamed Nokia Solutions and Networks), as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-47 of Nokia's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2012 under Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
source: Nokia, Bloomberg
After the acquisitions, rumors surfaced that Nokia plans on cutting a whopping 8500 jobs in ‘optimizations’ designed to boost profitability. NSN employs 50 500 people across the globe at the end of June and that number might drop to 42 000, a massive 17% cut. Sales of NSN facilities in Finland, India and China are also under consideration. None of those decisions is final, though, but judging from the more than 20 000 slashed jobs, more cuts are coming as Ericsson and Huawei are getting more competitive in network equipment.
Espoo, Finland - Nokia has completed the acquisition of Siemens' stake in Nokia Siemens Networks. The transaction was originally announced on July 1, 2013.
In accordance with this transaction, the Siemens name is being phased out from Nokia Siemens Networks' company name and branding. The new name and brand is Nokia Solutions and Networks, also referred to as NSN, which will be used also for financial reporting purposes.
Nokia Solutions and Networks is wholly owned by Nokia and will continue to be consolidated by Nokia.
Rajeev Suri continues as CEO and Jesper Ovesen continues as Executive Chairman of the NSN Board of Directors. The NSN Board of Directors has been adjusted to the new ownership structure as the Siemens-appointed directors have resigned.
About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia's technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.
NSN
NSN is the world's specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world's most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly.
Disclaimer
Nokia Siemens Networks is renamed as Nokia Solutions and Networks, also referred to as NSN, and the terms "Nokia Solutions and Networks", "NSN" and "Nokia Siemens Networks" can be used interchangeably in this release.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that Nokia and its business are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the expected plans and benefits of our partnership with Microsoft to bring together complementary assets and expertise to form a global mobile ecosystem for smartphones; B) the timing and expected benefits of our strategies, including expected operational and financial benefits and targets as well as changes in leadership and operational structure; C) the timing of the deliveries of our products and services; D) our ability to innovate, develop, execute and commercialize new technologies, products and services; E) expectations regarding market developments and structural changes; F) expectations and targets regarding our industry volumes, market share, prices, net sales and margins of our products and services; G) expectations and targets regarding our operational priorities and results of operations; H) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements; I) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; J) expectations regarding the successful completion of restructurings, investments, acquisitions and divestments on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, divestments and acquisitions, as well as any expected plans and benefits related to or caused by such transactions; and K) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "aim", "plans," "intends," "will" or similar expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our ability to make the Windows Phone ecosystem a competitive and profitable global ecosystem that achieves sufficient scale, value and attractiveness to relevant market participants, making Nokia products with Windows Phone a competitive choice for consumers; 2) our success in the smartphone market, including our ability to introduce and bring to market quantities of attractive, competitively priced Nokia products with Windows Phone that are positively differentiated from our competitors' products, both outside and within the Windows Phone ecosystem; 3) our ability to produce attractive and competitive devices in our Mobile Phones business unit, including feature phones and devices with features such as full touch that can be categorized as smartphones, in a timely and cost efficient manner with differentiated hardware, software, localized services and applications; 4) the success of our HERE strategy, including our ability to establish a successful location-based platform and extend our location-based services across devices and operating systems; 5) our ability to provide support for our Devices & Services business and maintain current and create new sources of revenue from our location-based service and commerce assets; 6) our ability to protect numerous patented standardized or proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 7) our ability to maintain the existing sources of intellectual property related revenue and establish new such sources; 8) the intensity of competition in the various markets where we do business and our ability to maintain or improve our market position or respond successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 9) our ability to keep momentum and increase our speed of innovation, product development and execution in order to bring new innovative and competitive mobile products and location-based or other services to the market in a timely manner; 10) the success of our partnership with Microsoft in connection with the Windows Phone ecosystem; 11) our ability to effectively and smoothly implement the planned changes in our operational structure and achieve targeted efficiencies and reductions in operating expenses and our ability to complete the planned divestments and acquisition, including obtaining any needed regulatory approvals; 12) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 13) our dependence on the development of the mobile and communications industry, including location-based and other services industries, in numerous diverse markets, as well as on general economic conditions globally and regionally; 14) our ability to maintain and leverage our traditional strengths in the mobile products market, especially if we are unable retain the loyalty of our mobile operator and distributor customers and consumers as a result of the implementation of our strategies or other factors; 15) the performance of the parties we partner and collaborate with, including Microsoft and our ability to achieve successful collaboration or partnering arrangements; 16) our ability to deliver our mobile products profitably, in line with quality requirements and on time, especially if the limited number of suppliers we depend on, many of which are geographically concentrated with a majority based in Asia, fail to deliver sufficient quantities of fully functional products, components, sub-assemblies, software and services on favorable terms and in compliance with our supplier requirements; 17) our ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing and logistics, as well as to ensure the quality, safety, security and timely delivery of our products and services; 18) any actual or even alleged defects or other quality, safety and security issues in our products; 19) any inefficiency, malfunction or disruption of a system or network that our operations rely on; 20) the impact of cybersecurity breach or other factors leading to an actual or alleged loss, improper disclosure or leakage of any personal or consumer data collected by us or our partners or subcontractors, made available to us or stored in or through our products; 21) our ability to successfully manage the pricing of our products and costs related to our products and our operations; 22) the potential complex tax issues and obligations we may face, including the obligation to pay additional taxes in various jurisdictions and our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, could result in allowances related to deferred tax assets; 23) exchange rate fluctuations, particularly between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, as well as certain other currencies; 24) our ability to protect the technologies, which we or others develop or which we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our product and services; 25) the impact of economic, regulatory, political or other development on our sales, manufacturing facilities and assets located in emerging market countries as well as the impact of regulations against imports to those countries; 26) the impact of changes in and enforcement of government policies, technical standards, trade policies, laws or regulations in countries where our assets are located and where we do business; 27) investigations or claims by contracting parties in relation to exits from countries, areas or contractual arrangements; 28) unfavorable outcome of litigation, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; 29) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile devices, and the lawsuits and publicity related to them, regardless of merit; 30) Nokia Solutions and Networks' (renamed from Nokia Siemens Networks) success in the mobile broadband infrastructure and related services market and its ability to effectively, profitably and timely adapt business and operations to the diverse needs of its customers; 31) Nokia Solutions and Networks' ability to maintain and improve its market position and respond successfully to changes and competition in the mobile broadband infrastructure and related services market; 32) Nokia Solutions and Networks' success in implementing its restructuring plan and reducing its operating expenses and other costs; 33) Nokia Solutions and Networks' ability to invest in and timely introduce new competitive products, services, upgrades and technologies; 34) Nokia Solutions and Networks' dependence on limited number of customers and large, multi-year contracts; 35) Nokia Solutions and Networks' liquidity and its ability to meet its working capital requirements, including access to available credit under its financing arrangements and other credit lines as well as cash at hand; 36) the management of Nokia Solutions and Networks' customer financing exposure; 37) whether ongoing or any additional governmental investigations of alleged violations of law by some former employees of Siemens may involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia Siemens Networks (renamed Nokia Solutions and Networks); 38) any impairment of Nokia Solutions and Networks' customer relationships resulting from ongoing or any additional governmental investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks (renamed Nokia Solutions and Networks), as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-47 of Nokia's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2012 under Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
Thumbnail images courtesy of Henrik Kettunen/Bloomberg.
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