Tuesday, November 5, 2013
For Microsoft to make any headway, it must now create mobile devices that attract both consumers and business buyers, find its footing in hardware manufacturing and win over skeptical shareholders and app developers, all the while successfully integrating 32,000 Nokia employees with Microsoft's 100,000.
Microsoft investors didn't exactly show their faith on Tuesday, sending the company's shares down 4.6% to $31.88. The decline erased the stock bump that came after Chief Executive Steve Ballmer recently announced his retirement.
Mr. Ballmer argued Tuesday that Google and Apple don't have a permanent lock in the mobile business. Microsoft also is working from a position of financial strength. The company generates more than $70 billion of annual revenue, and the Nokia acquisition will barely dent Microsoft's $77 billion cash stockpile.
