Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took command of the ship in 2014, sometime after the company took control of Nokia's device manufacturing division. Since then, Nadella hasn't made many public comments on the deal but in his new book, "Hit Refresh," he states that he voted against the acquisition when then-CEO Ballmer conducted a straw poll of the senior leadership team.
From Nadella:
I voted no. I did not get why the world needed the third ecosystem in phones, unless we changed the rules … But it was too late to regain the ground we had lost. We were chasing our competitors' taillights. [...] Buying a company with weak market share is always risky. We should only be in the phone business when we have something that is really differentiated.
With the acquisition of Nokia's phone division, many thought this would be the big change Windows on mobile required But it turned out not to be the case and the platform has declined since.
We're intrigued to learn what you think about the Nokia deal, whether Microsoft should have acquired the phone division, and if you agree with what Nadella wrote in his book.
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From the forum: Satya Nadella confirms he wasn't in favor of Microsoft's Nokia acquisition
