Lenovo Laughs Off Nokia Buyout Rumors

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Investors who were hoping for a Nokia
NOK
buyout are getting a rude awakening this morning after a senior exec at Lenovo referred to the acquisition rumor as a "joke."
"This must be a joke," Gianfranco Lanci, head of Lenovo's operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, told
Reuters
. Wednesday afternoon, Nokia shares were up more than two percent, but earlier traded much higher on the rumors of a Nokia/Lenovo merger. The company's share price rose over the previous few days, after more than 18 months of significant declines. In February, Nokia unveiled
its most impressive phone yet
, the 808 PureView. The innovative device was the first smartphone to feature a 41MP camera, enabling users to zoom digitally without blurry images or pixilation. While this feature cannot be found in smartphones from Apple
AAPL
, Samsung, or Research in Motion
RIMM
, it has not proven to be a large enough selling point to get Nokia back on track. That said, Nokia did recently announce that it sold
10 million Lumia devices
in the first three months of release, an achievement that dwarfs the number of iPhones (5.4 million) that were sold during the Apple device's initial 90-day period. In May, Siri shocked the world when it began to
recommend the Lumia 900
as the world's best phone. Apple quickly
fixed the problem
, but not before inspiring a day of laughter within the tech community. There were rumors that Nokia was attempting to produce a tablet to
compete with the iPad
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. But the most interesting rumor claimed that Apple
wanted to buy the firm
, possibly to take advantage of Nokia's patents. That rumor ultimately fizzled. In 2011, Microsoft
MSFT
was expected to take control of Nokia. Aside from Samsung, which may be developing
two Windows Phone 8 handsets
, Microsoft's only major smartphone partner is Nokia. Microsoft is
developing a tablet
, so the Windows maker could feasibly produce a smartphone. Until that day comes, however, the company would likely need a partner. Some believed that Nokia could be that partner, leading to months of buyout reports. Thus far, none of the acquisition rumors have proven to be true. Earlier this week Nokia announced that its senior executives would be eligible to receive additional stock options
beyond the initial ceiling
. Nokia hopes the expanded stock options will enable the firm to retain top talent.
Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ
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Posted In: NewsRumorsTechAppleLenovoMicrosoftNokia
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