Nokia Corporation[6] is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, in the Helsinki metropolitan area,[4] but the company's actual roots are in the Tampere region of Pirkanmaa.[7] In 2020, Nokia employed approximately 92,000 people[8] across over 100 countries, did business in more than 130 countries, and reported annual revenues of around €23 billion.[5] Nokia is a public limited company listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki and New York Stock Exchange.[9] It was the world's 415th-largest company measured by 2016 revenues, according to the Fortune Global 500, having peaked at 85th place in 2009.[10] It is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[11][12]
The company has operated in various industries over the past 150 years. It was founded as a pulp mill and had long been associated with rubber and cables, but since the 1990s has focused on large-scale telecommunications infrastructure, technology development, and licensing.[13] Nokia made significant contributions to the mobile telephony industry, assisting in the development of the GSM, 3G, and LTE standards. For a decade beginning in 1998, Nokia was the largest worldwide vendor of mobile phones and smartphones. In the later 2000s, however, Nokia suffered from a series of poor management decisions and soon saw its share of the mobile phone market drop sharply.
After a partnership with Microsoft and Nokia's subsequent market struggles,[14][15][16] in 2014, Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile phone business (Nokia Devices & Services),[17][18] incorporating it as Microsoft Mobile.[19] After the sale, Nokia began to focus more on its telecommunications infrastructure business and on Internet of things technologies, marked by the divestiture of its Here mapping division and the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent
The company was viewed with national pride by Finns, as its mobile phone business made it by far the largest worldwide company and brand from Finland.[28] At its peak in 2000, Nokia accounted for 4% of the country's GDP, 21% of total exports, and 70% of the Nasdaq Helsinki market capital.[29][30]
History
1865–1967
Nokia's history dates from 1865, when mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a pulp mill on the shores of the Tammerkoski rapids near the town of Tampere, Finland (then a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire's rule).[7] A second pulp mill was opened in 1868 near the neighboring town of Nokia, where there were better hydropower resources.[7] In 1871, Idestam, together with a friend Leo Mechelin, formed a shared company and called it Nokia Ab (in Swedish, Nokia Company being the English equivalent), after the site of the second pulp mill.
Idestam retired in 1896, making Mechelin the company's chairman; he expanded into electricity generation by 1902, which Idestam had opposed. In 1904, Suomen Gummitehdas (Finnish Rubber Works), a rubber business founded by Eduard Polón
Current operations
Nokia is a julkinen osakeyhtiö (public joint-stock company) listed on the Nasdaq Nordic/Helsinki and New York stock exchanges.[9] Nokia has played a very large role in the economy of Finland,[202][203] and it is an important employer in the country, working with multiple local partners and subcontractors.[204] Nokia contributed 1.6% to Finland's GDP and accounted for about 16% of the country's exports in 2006.[205]
Nokia comprises two business groups along with further subsidiaries and affiliated firms.
Corporate affairs
Business trends
The key trends for Nokia are (as of the financial year ending 31 December):[248][249][250]
Corporate governance
The control and management of Nokia is divided among the shareholders at a general meeting and the Nokia Group Leadership Team (left),[251] under the direction of the board of directors (right).[252] The chairman and the rest of the Nokia Leadership Team members are appointed by the board of directors.
Awards and recognition
In 2018, Nokia received the Leading Lights award for most innovative cable/video product[271] and was named to Ethisphere's 2018 world's most ethical companies list.[272]
Logo history
Controversies
NSN's provision of intercept capability to Iran
In 2008, Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Nokia and Siemens AG, reportedly provided Iran's monopoly telecom company with technology that allowed it to intercept the Internet communications of its citizens.[279] The technology reportedly allowed Iran to use deep packet inspection to read and change the content of emails, social media, and online phone calls. The technology "enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes".[280]
During the post-election protests in Iran in June 2009, Iran's Internet access was reported to have slowed to less than a tenth of its normal speeds, which experts suspected was due to using of deep packet inspection.[281]
Further reading
- Lamberg, Juha-Antti, et al. "The curse of agility: The Nokia Corporation and the loss of market dominance in mobile phones, 2003–2013." Business History 63.4 (2021): 574–605. online
External links
References
- Rafaela Lindeberg. Nokia redesigns logo because people think it still makes mobile phones The Star, 2023-02-27^
- Contact us Nokia, retrieved 17 September 2019^
- Nokia Annual Report 2024 (Form 20-F) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 13 March 2025