BREAKING NEWS: Resignations at Nokia Networks; Baldauf announces departure
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In a statement put out on Friday morning by the Finnish mobile phones giant, Nokia has announced that Sari Baldauf, the head of the company’s mobile networks unit, has resigned, and that another senior Nokia Networks executive, Dr. Jukka Bergqvist, is also to leave.
The news comes close on revelations that Nokia missed out on a huge 3G networks order for the American operator Cingular, but according to Nokia Chairman and CEO Jorma Ollila, the decisions were for personal reasons.
"Sari [Baldauf] has been closely involved in the development of the entire mobile infrastructure industry during the past 20 years, practically during her whole career at Nokia", Chairman and CEO Jorma Ollila said in a statement.
"She has, however, taken a very personal decision to make a change in her life and to focus on new interests", he added, saying that the move had been planned for over a year and that he had been fully aware of it.
At a press conference now under way, Ollila spoke of a change-of-generation in the Nokia senior management, but warned against drawing too rigid conclusions from this. On the question of his own position, he said that it has not yet been discussed by the Nokia Board. He noted that the issue would be discussed just over a year from now, well before his present contract runs out in the autumn of 2006.
Baldauf is to be replaced at the helm of Nokia Networks by the 46-year-old Australian Simon Beresford-Wylie. He will become Executive Vice President and General Manager, Networks, and a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board from February 1st, 2005. Beresford-Wylie has been with the company since 1998 and is currently in charge of Nokia's infrastructure business in Asia and is a member of the Nokia Networks management team.
Dr. Jukka Bergqvist has been heading the global business units of Networks, the telecommunications infrastructure business group of Nokia. He has also been a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board since 2002, and industry analysts suggest that his technological skills and the marketing talents of Baldauf have been instrumental in pulling Nokia Networks out of a slump that followed the telecoms crash at the beginning of the century.
It is almost inevitable that there will be conjecture over possible linkage between these latest announcements and the Cingular contract, where Nokia found itself relatively out in the cold as rivals Ericsson, Siemens, and Lucent picked up the lion’s share.
In any event, it is the third major name to announce a departure in quick succession, as Chief Strategy Officer Matti Alahuhta was appointed to head the Finnish elevator and escalator manufacturers Kone in mid-November.
Investors took Friday’s information on board without any great excitement; the company’s stock was down around 0.47% in Helsinki at 13.30 local time, some hours after the news broke.
The news comes close on revelations that Nokia missed out on a huge 3G networks order for the American operator Cingular, but according to Nokia Chairman and CEO Jorma Ollila, the decisions were for personal reasons.
"Sari [Baldauf] has been closely involved in the development of the entire mobile infrastructure industry during the past 20 years, practically during her whole career at Nokia", Chairman and CEO Jorma Ollila said in a statement.
"She has, however, taken a very personal decision to make a change in her life and to focus on new interests", he added, saying that the move had been planned for over a year and that he had been fully aware of it.
At a press conference now under way, Ollila spoke of a change-of-generation in the Nokia senior management, but warned against drawing too rigid conclusions from this. On the question of his own position, he said that it has not yet been discussed by the Nokia Board. He noted that the issue would be discussed just over a year from now, well before his present contract runs out in the autumn of 2006.
Baldauf is to be replaced at the helm of Nokia Networks by the 46-year-old Australian Simon Beresford-Wylie. He will become Executive Vice President and General Manager, Networks, and a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board from February 1st, 2005. Beresford-Wylie has been with the company since 1998 and is currently in charge of Nokia's infrastructure business in Asia and is a member of the Nokia Networks management team.
Dr. Jukka Bergqvist has been heading the global business units of Networks, the telecommunications infrastructure business group of Nokia. He has also been a member of the Nokia Group Executive Board since 2002, and industry analysts suggest that his technological skills and the marketing talents of Baldauf have been instrumental in pulling Nokia Networks out of a slump that followed the telecoms crash at the beginning of the century.
It is almost inevitable that there will be conjecture over possible linkage between these latest announcements and the Cingular contract, where Nokia found itself relatively out in the cold as rivals Ericsson, Siemens, and Lucent picked up the lion’s share.
In any event, it is the third major name to announce a departure in quick succession, as Chief Strategy Officer Matti Alahuhta was appointed to head the Finnish elevator and escalator manufacturers Kone in mid-November.
Investors took Friday’s information on board without any great excitement; the company’s stock was down around 0.47% in Helsinki at 13.30 local time, some hours after the news broke.
Helsingin Sanomat