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Microsoft and Nokia bosses in Finland for charm offensive – Steve Ballmer visits Finnish Parliament for discussion with politicians

Thursday, 05 September 2013
Top officials of the stuffed Nokia and Microsoft, outgoing Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer met with Nokia employees in Oulu and Tampere on Wednesday. At the same time Steve Ballmer went to the Finnish parliament for what has been described as charm offensive and reassurances.

Even though Nokia is sold to Microsoft, Finland would still be a strong pay ground for the company as the mobile technological knowhow specific for the strategic development of Nokia is here in Finland. Also the Finish worker and the government need assured that the company is just taking the ext stage it its evolution.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer /image//Yle
Steve Ballmer said he is “very fired up” by the deal with Nokia announced on Tuesday, and promised that Finland will be the base for Microsoft handset R&D.

Ballmer met with Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen on Wednesday in Helsinki. The meeting took place at the House of Parliament, where the premier was officiating at the opening of the autumn session.

”We’re entirely committed and very fired up by the acquisition of the Devices and Services division of Nokia,” Ballmer told Finnish national broadcaster, Yle. “We’ve had great meetings with the folks we hope will be our new teams after the deal closes in Espoo, in Tampere, in Salo, in Oulu and we’re very excited to have Finland as the centre of all phone development at Microsoft.”

Also taking part in the Helsinki meeting were outgoing Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and the company’s board chair, Risto Siilasmaa.

It took place a day after Nokia announced that Microsoft was buying its entire mobile handset business, which propelled the company to global fame in the 1990s.

Some 4,700 workers in Finland’s Nokia will be transferred from Nokia to Microsoft after the deal announced yesterday and this is being seen as the chance to meet their new boss via a whistlestop tour of Finnish Nokia units.

On Wednesday, Elop and Ballmer met workers at the firm’s premises in Tampere, and continued their journey in the afternoon to Oulu in northern Finland. On Tuesday the pair visited Salo in the south-west.
by Scancomark.com Team