An unnamed group nine young Nokia shareholders who have also been employees have released an open letter to the company's other shareholders and institutional investors saying the Microsoft deal is a bad one for Nokia and chief executive Stephen Elop should be replaced.
A group of Nokia shareholders oppose the Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Photo credit: David Meyer
In the letter, the group said it plans to challenge the Nokia-Microsoft partnership and strategy at the company's Annual General Meeting for Shareholders on 3 May. It said it has also developed a 'Plan B' approach that involves not only replacing Elop, but also looks to revamp the company's hiring strategy and eliminate "outdated and bureaucratic R&D practices".
These shareholders said they want to avoid, at all costs, "becoming a poorly differentiated OEM [original equipment manufacturer] with only low margin, commodity products that is unable to attract top software talent and cannot create shareholder value though innovation".
Update on 17 February: The 'Plan B' revolt is a hoax, according to Dow Jones and a post on Twitter. The Twitter message reads: "there are no 'nine young investors', just one very bored engineer who really likes his iPhone."
For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Nokia's Microsoft deal leads to shareholder revolt, call for a "Plan B" on ZDNet.com.