Outgoing CEO Pekka Lundmark tried to address the vexed question of the U.S. government buying a stake in Nokia while still giving a "no comment"
Nokia has plenty of customers in both markets
Still the CEO admitted that if cooperation fails between U.S. and Europe, Nokia would have to treat them as separate customers
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, BARCELONA – Nokia's outgoing CEO Pekka Lundmark walked a tightrope this afternoon at the company's pre-show press conference when it came to dealing with the newly fraught geopolitical relations due to Trump 2.0.
We asked the question on everybody’s mind: Has Nokia had any discussions with the United States government about the Trump administration taking a share in Nokia?
“We are not commenting obviously,” said outgoing Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark. “Just say that we are partnering with governments and the U.S. government and our position in the U.S. is extremely important to us, but Europe is as well.”
“We would hope,” the CEO continued, “...that there will be cooperation between Europe and the United States because that really benefits us all. If that is not the case then we have to focus separately on both of these markets,” the CEO said realistically.
As he noted, Nokia is proud of fact that it is “headquartered in Europe” but “the U.S. is our second home.”
So, as you can see, dear reader, tightrope walked. Questioned answered - sorta.
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