It was Stephen Elop who, as Nokia’s chief executive, deepened the Finnish telecommunications firm’s ties to Microsoft by agreeing to bind itself to the Windows Phone operating system.

Now that Microsoft is buying full control of the Nokia mobile phone business for $7.2 billion (€5.32 billion), Mr Elop is set for a big payout. Nokia disclosed yesterday that its now-former chief is expected to collect about €18.8 million as he prepares to leave the company and rejoin Microsoft.

As outlined in materials for a shareholder vote on the deal, the payment would be composed of €4.1 million worth of salary and management incentives; €100,000 in benefits; and stock awards currently valued at about €14.6 million. About 70 per cent of Mr Elop’s payment will be covered by Microsoft, with Nokia responsible for the remainder.

It is an expensive goodbye for the executive, who collected $6.2 million to go to Nokia from Microsoft in the first place.

During his three years at Nokia, Mr Elop took the bold, though often criticised, move of committing to Microsoft’s phone software as the companies struggled to gain traction in the smartphone sector.

Nokia’s handsets, which previously ran a variety of homegrown operating systems, have steadily lost ground to a wave of phones running Google’s Android as well as Apple’s iPhone.

During Nokia’s negotiations with Microsoft earlier this year, Nokia sidelined Mr Elop and designated its chairman, Risto Siilasmaa, as its point person in the talks.

Under the terms of the handset transaction, Mr Elop will leave Nokia and become the head of Microsoft's handset business once the deal closes.
– (New York Times)