Nokia Replaces CEO With Microsoft Executive

Nokia's stock raised on Friday after the Finnish mobile phone maker announced some big news. The news is that they are replacing their chief executive with an executive from Microsoft. Nokia's board of directors said that it hired Stephen Elop for the position of president and CEO, Elop is scheduled to begin work on his new job on September 21. He is currently still the head of Microsoft's business division.

Investors were very happy with the news, and that sent Nokia's stock up about 2 percent within the first half hour of trading.

Nokia's current CEO is Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. He is scheduled to step down from his position on September 20, he will also lose his position on the company's board of directors. However, he will continue as chairman of the board of Nokia Siemens Networks "in a non-executive capacity," said the company.

The incoming CEO has held executive positions at Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems Inc. and Macromedia Inc. This shows that he does have a lot of knowledge in the field of computer engineering and management.

"The time is right to accelerate the company's renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success. The Nokia board believes that Stephen has the right industry experience and leadership skills to realize the full potential of Nokia," said Jorma Ollila, chairman of Nokia's board of directors.

It was not stated why the company was replacing their CEO, however, in July the company reported ongoing profit declines for the second quarter, so that could have something to do with it. They probably wish to have someone at the head of the company who can lead them to victory in the mobile phone market once more.