NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Microsoft announced late Monday night that it will buy Nokia’s mobile phone business — a momentous deal that pits Microsoft squarely against Apple and Google in the hotly contested smartphone arena.
The €5.4 billion ($7.2 billion) acquisition gives Microsoft control of the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, according to IDC. The Finnish Nokia (NOK) is well behind Samsung in cell phone sales but far ahead of third-place Apple (AAPL,Fortune 500), according to IDC.
Yet Nokia is a deeply troubled company and is rapidly losing relevance.
That’s particularly true in the smartphone market that Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500)covets. Nokia, once dominant in the sector, no longer cracks the top five manufacturers in the world.
