Microsoft is acquiring the phone part of Nokia for a cool $7.2 Billion. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is staying on board, which, I think will fuel rumors that he was a corporate trojan horse – leaving Microsoft for Nokia, only to oversee the latter’s sale to his former employer – and that he is in the running to fill Ballmer’s shoes. To that end, if will be very interesting to see if, in fact, Elop does get the promotion, because it would be indicative of Microsoft’s pivot from a PC and Office-based company to a mobile-oriented one.
Nokia’s stock is up an enviable 41% in pre-market trading. Similarly, I’ll bet that Blackberry gets bought out within the next few months, too – and that their stock price will have a similar jump. In a world without trade protection, I’d wager that a well-heeled Chinese company will buy Blackberry for their patent portfolio. But given the Canadian government’s strong indication that it views a Chinese takeover unfavorably, Blackberry will likely go private, or get bought Samsung.
Silicon Spatula 