Stephen Elop had issued a controversial statement that made him shake his head during a press conference announcing Nokia's acquisition by Microsoft in 2013. This statement is always remembered today when he follows a flashback of Nokia's business journey.
"We didn't do anything wrong, but somehow we failed," he said.
Nokia was once a leader in wireless telecommunications, having more than 129,000 employees in more than 150 countries and sales of 41 billion euros with a profit of 1.2 billion in 2009.
In addition, this brand is also known as the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world with a global product market share of around 40% in the second quarter of 2008.
Stepen Elop legitimately admits that Nokia has done nothing wrong in its business. But the world has changed much faster than Nokia anticipated.
Competitors are becoming stronger and they are rushing to keep up with changing trends. So lose the opportunity to grow and make a lot of money. They even lost their chance to survive.
In September 2013, Nokia announced that it would sell its devices and services division to Microsoft for USD 7.17 billion). On December 4, 2013, the European Union formally signed an agreement approving this acquisition by Microsoft.
After agreeing to sell Nokia to Microsoft, Stephen Elop resigned from the chair of CEO of Nokia and returned to work for Microsoft with the task of leading the mobile devices division.
But that makes many people surprised. Stephen Elop splashed profit from this acquisition. He got a huge bonus.
He was paid 18 months of salary and incentive bonuses worth USD 5.7 million. He also got a share of shares worth USD 19.7 million . Overall, the fee he received was around USD 25.4 million.
In 2015, Elop was also laid off when Nokia's mobile phone business failed and Microsoft discontinued it.