Nokia's Elop sees 2012 pay package slashed by 45% amid financial struggles

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) CEO Stephen Elop saw his total 2012 pay package cut by 45 percent compared with 2011, according to a regulatory filing. Nokia struggled mightily in 2012 in its transition to using Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software for its smartphones.

nokia stephen elop

Elop

Elop's total pay for 2012 came in at around $5.62 million, down from around $10.3 million in 2011, according to Nokia's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For 2012, Elop's compensation included a base salary that rose slightly to $1.4 million and a $3.41 million stock award that is tied to share price targets being met. However, Elop did not get a cash performance bonus for 2012 after getting one for close to $1.3 million in his first two years at Nokia.

Though Nokia reported a net profit for the fourth quarter of 2012, the company reported a loss for the full year. Nokia has also undergone major restructuring that included a staggering 25,800 job cuts.

So far Nokia's Lumia Window Phone sales have not taken off fast enough to counteract the decline in sales of its legacy Symbian devices, which it has stopped making. Additionally, the company is selling more low-cost Asha touchscreen pones than Lumia phones right now. In the fourth quarter Nokia sold 9.3 million Asha phones, more than twice the 4.4 million Lumias it sold. 

In another effort to conserve cash, Nokia said it plans to cut its capital expenditure to $454 million this year, or 24 percent less than the roughly $598 million it spent last year.

Nokia also said it will receive more "platform support" payments from Microsoft this year. However, Nokia will begin spending money on royalty payments to Microsoft starting next year; Nokia said its payments to Microsoft will exceed what it receives from the software giant by around $650 million over the remainder of their agreement.

For more:
- see this SEC filing
- see this Reuters article
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

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