Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2B, wrote it off 15 months later, and fired 7,800 people

On 2 September 2013, Microsoft announced it would acquire Nokia's mobile device business for €3.79 billion, plus another €1.65 billion to license Nokia's patents, totaling over €5.4 billion ($7.2 billion). The deal was part of Steve Ballmer's vision to transform Microsoft into a 'devices and services' company and to compete with the iPhone and Android using the Windows Phone platform.

The acquisition was doomed from the start. Nokia's global smartphone market share had collapsed from #1 to #10 between 2011 and 2013. Windows Phone held less than 3% of the market. The Lumia phones were well-reviewed but could not break the iOS-Android duopoly. After the acquisition, Windows Phone's share continued to decline, dropping below 1%.

On 8 July 2015, just 15 months after the deal closed, Microsoft announced a $7.6 billion write-down of the Nokia acquisition — more than the purchase price itself — and up to 7,800 layoffs. In May 2016, Microsoft wrote off another $950 million and cut 1,850 more jobs. The phone business was sold to HMD Global and Foxconn. Microsoft had paid $7.2B to enter a market, then paid $7.6B to admit it had failed.