Nokia's CEO Compared His Own Company To A Burning Platform. He Was Right.

In February 2011, Nokia's CEO sent his staff a memo comparing the company to a man on a burning oil platform, forced to jump into freezing water. It leaked within a day, and the diagnosis in it was almost entirely correct. He named Apple, named Android, and admitted Nokia's software couldn't compete. Two days later he announced what he'd do about it. That decision took Nokia from roughly 40% of the global handset market to effectively nothing in three years, and it had almost nothing to do with whether the plan itself was good. --- SOURCES ▸ The "burning platform" memo, leaked and widely republished in full ▸ Nokia and Microsoft's joint announcement, 11 February 2011 ▸ Nokia annual reports (market-share figures) ▸ Microsoft's July 2015 impairment announcement (SEC filing) Corrections are pinned in the comments. If you find an error, post it. I'd rather be right than uncorrected. --- Terminal Value — forensic autopsies of companies that destroyed themselves. New episode Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. ▸ Subscribe:    / @terminalvaluedocs   Narration in this video is AI-assisted. Research, analysis, scripting and editorial judgement are human. #businessdocumentary #corporatecollapse #nokia #stephenelop #businesscasestudy