Nokia chairman admits mistake in Elop pay-off description

Nokia's chairman, Risto Siilasmaa, has
admitted that he accidently gave
misleading information about former chief
executive Stephen Elop's pay-off.
Mr Elop's $25.4m (£16m) pay-off, which he
will get when Microsoft's deal to buy Nokia's
handset business goes through, had sparked
angry reactions.
Mr Siilasmaa had tried to calm things by
saying that Mr Elop's contract terms were
similar to his predecessors.
On Tuesday, he told Finland's Helsingin
Sanomat newspaper that he was wrong.
"This is a very unfortunate thing about the
case, which, moreover, raises a lot of
emotions," Mr Siilasmaa said, according to the
report in the Finnish paper.

Pay-off deal
When the deal with Microsoft was signed on 3
September, Mr Elop agreed to step down as
Nokia chief executive and take a new job at
Microsoft when the deal is completed.
Nokia said that due to that change he was
entitled to 18 months of his salary and what
Nokia described as a "management short term
cash incentive" which combined are worth
$5.7m.
He is also entitled to share awards worth
$19.7m.
The massive amount had sparked angry
reactions in Finland, including one from the
economy minister, Jan Vapaavuori, who
reportedly said: "I find it difficult to
understand the merits of this bonus."
Mr Elop moved from Microsoft to run Nokia in
September 2010, and will return to his former
employer when the deal is completed.
Microsoft agreed a deal to buy Nokia's mobile
phone business for $7.2bn earlier this month.
Nokia shareholders are due to vote on the deal
on 19 November.