Nokia gets new CEO and turns profitable

“Intelligent connection”

Rajeev Suri (46) is a familiar face within Nokia’s ranks, as he was the head of Nokia Solutions and Networks, the largest division within the company, but from 1 May onwards, he will become Nokia’s CEO.

A video speech on Nokia’s homepage explains that Suri wants Nokia to focus entirely on location services and NSN’s network technology: “The coming changes in technology will be as profound as the creation of the internet. We are rapidly approaching a world where everybody and everything will be connected. At Nokia, we see our role in that world as providing intelligent connections, starting with networks but going well beyond that, with location intelligence and much more.”

In the red

Nokia has also revealed its quarterly results, with a turnover of 2.7 billion euro, 15 % less than a year ago, but the group has reached profitability again. Operational profit reached 242 million euro, while it had to take a 30 million euro operational loss last year.

The network division brings in the bulk of the total turnover, namely 2.3 billion euro (- 17 %). The digital cards division, HERE, reached 209 million euro, 7 million less than the year before. Technologies, the division that researches license-able technologies, managed 131 million euro in turnover. 

Nokia’s smartphone division, sold to Microsoft, managed a final turnover of 1.9 billion euro, 30 % lower than one year ago. The Finnish company did manage to improve Lumia and other smartphone sales, but not sufficiently to bring the division back to profitability. Microsoft has its work cut out…