Ericsson to divest its shares in Symbian to Nokia

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) announced today that the company has decided to accept Nokia’s cash offer to acquire all of the Symbian Limited shares that Nokia does not already own. Ericsson owns 15.6% of the shares in Symbian Limited.

Symbian Limited, the software company that develops and licenses Symbian OS(TM), which is the market-leading open operating system for mobile devices, was co-founded by Ericsson in 1998. As Ericsson no longer manufactures mobile phones the shareholding in the company is not strategic for Ericsson.

Nokia’s acquisition of the shares in Symbian is subject to approvals from relevant competition authorities and is expected to be completed during the second half of 2008.


Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. The market leader in 2G and 3G mobile technologies, Ericsson supplies communications services and manages networks that serve more than 195 million subscribers. The company’s portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, and broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and developers. The Sony Ericsson joint venture provides consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.