Microsoft Is Getting Nokia’s Phone Business for a Song

[Commentary] Say what you will about the overall strategic wisdom of Microsoft paying $7 billion and change for Nokia’s smartphone business and patent portfolio, but you certainly can’t fault Microsoft for choosing to buy now versus a few years ago.

Although Microsoft is not getting the whole company, it’s certainly paying a lot less for the piece it’s getting than it would have. Shares of Nokia peaked in late 2007 at $40.59, when its wireless phone division still ruled the world and its share of the world’s market for smartphones, then based primarily on its since-abandoned Symbian operating system. Nokia’s share never traded higher than that price; they’ve fallen since then by more than 90 percent. Nokia’s share price has deflated to the present $3.90 a share.