Nokia approves Microsoft sell-off

Nokia shareholders have approved the sale of the Finnish company's mobile phone division to Microsoft.

Meeting today at an extraordinary general meeting in Helsinki, 99.7 per cent of shareholders gave the green light to the €5.44bn (£4.5bn) sale, according to the Financial Times.

After flogging the mobile phone part of the business and licensing its related patents to Microsoft, Nokia will now deal in services such as Here maps and equipment for telecoms companies. Outgoing boss Stephen Elop, who left Microsoft to take charge of Nokia, will trouser a controversial £15m bonus that's been blasted by Finland's government -- and he's in the running to replace departing Microsoft head honcho Steve Ballmer.

Whether Microsoft will keep the Nokia, Lumia and Asha names going or set the folks at Nokia to work making own-brand Windows Phones remains to be seen. In the meantime, Nokia begins selling its first tablet, the Lumia 2520, before the end of the year.

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