Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by smackfu on Thursday July 17, 2014 @11:36AM
(#8048090)
Adding layoff costs to the purchase price doesn't seem right. Severance is the bulk of it, and that's money you would have paid anyway if you had kept the employees on.
Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by Bluestrike2 on Thursday July 17, 2014 @12:17PM
(#8048361)
There's no evidence that the initial case for the acquisition was scrapped. On the contrary, it's almost a given that MS was aware of the post-deal costs. This is all quite normal for M&A deals.
Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by wes-exp on Thursday July 17, 2014 @10:47AM
(#8047819)
Don't underestimate the value of the Nokia brand. Until recently, IIRC, Nokia was the world's largest seller of mobile phones. That brand image is worth a ton to help MS sell its phones.
Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by gr3yh47 on Thursday July 17, 2014 @11:02AM
(#8047900)
Right up until they went windows phone only. The result is nokia's sales dropping, not windows phone sales increasing.
Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by genericuser on Thursday July 17, 2014 @11:54AM
(#8048199)
Coincided with yes, but saying it was the result of is making a fault with logic as I am sure you are aware.
Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by mkozlows on Thursday July 17, 2014 @11:49AM
(#8048170)
Microsoft only has license to the Nokia brand through the end of 2015 (Nokia is still a separate company).
Re:Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
by DelwinAmber on Thursday July 17, 2014 @10:03AM
(#8047549)
It can be argued that their patent portfolio was worth about that much.
Except that Microsoft didn't get the Nokia patents, merely a license to use them.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/03/us-nokia-microsoft...
It may be successful on a tax/accounting perspective since the purchase was made in € with cash that couldn't be brought to the US.
Yet this does look like a gigantic waste of assets. Warren Buffett says that a successful business is all about mindfully allocating its resources. This looks like the oppsite - no wonder that Nadella has a hard time explaining what happens in simple words.