ESPOO (dpa-AFX) - Nokia Corp. (NOK), which recently sold substantially all of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Wednesday announced that Michael Halbherr has decided to step down as CEO of its mapping and location intelligence unit HERE and as a member of the Nokia Group Leadership Team, effective September 1.
The decision has been taken in order to pursue Halbherr's own entrepreneurial interests outside of the company. Halbherr has been with Nokia for the past eight years.
Cliff Fox, currently Senior Vice President, Core Map Group, at HERE, will assume the position of acting head of HERE, effective that date.
The company noted that a search for a permanent leader of HERE will start immediately inside and outside the organization.
Halbherr said, 'I am proud that we have been able to create a leading location cloud company widely recognized across industries, by customers and by opinion leaders. Now the time is right for me to focus once again on entrepreneurial activities.'
In a separate statement, Nokia announced that its Board of Directors has resolved on a directed issuance of a maximum amount of 200,592 Nokia shares held by the company to its employees participating in the Employee Share Purchase Plan 2013.
The one-year cycle of the Employee Share Purchase Plan 2013 ended on June 30, 2014.
Under the terms and conditions of the Plan 2013, Nokia will offer one matching share for every two shares purchased under the plan which the participant still held as at June 30. The shares will be delivered to the employees in September.
In Helsinki, Nokia shares were gaining 0.06 euros or 1.01 percent, and trading at 6.01 euros.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX