By Tara Lachapelle and Brooke Sutherland
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s $7.2 billion takeover of Nokia Oyj (NOK1V)’s handset business cost shareholders more than twice that as it dashed hopes for a fresh start under Steve Ballmer’s successor.
The world’s largest software company lost $18 billion in market value since the purchase of Nokia’s mobile-phone assets was disclosed, erasing all of the gains that followed the announcement last month that Ballmer is retiring, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The agreement cements the departing chief executive officer’s shift toward the more volatile consumer-device business and leaves little room for his successor to take a different tack, Atlantic Equities LLP said.
Microsoft is chasing growth in a market already dominated by Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG) with devices that generate lower returns than the company’s business-software division. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is returning to Microsoft as part of the asset sale, making him Ballmer’s most likely successor and signaling that the company is in smartphones for the long haul, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said, even as some shareholders say that strategy is misplaced…..