Elop, who famously likened Nokia to a man standing on a burning platform, told the Open Mobile Summit that the recent bid speculation was "completely groundless. Nokia is not for sale."

Rumors that Nokia could be broken up or sold started circulating last week after the company warned it may not make a profit in the second quarter. The profit warning and a subsequent ratings downgrade saw its shares slump to a 13 year low.

Nokia is struggling to compete in the high-end handset market, where it has been losing market share to nimbler competitors such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and devices based on Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android operating system. Its failure to keep pace with the fast-moving market saw it abandon its Symbian platform for smartphones in February, in favor of a partnership with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and its Windows Phone software.

S&P Thursday became the latest ratings agency to downgrade Nokia, cutting it to BBB+/A-2 from A-/A-1, and putting it on a negative creditwatch, but the agency said that "at this stage, we believe the long-term rating will remain investment grade."

Fitch Ratings downgraded Nokia's credit rating by two notches Tuesday, leaving it one step away from junk territory, while Moody's Investors Service last week put Nokia on watch for a downgrade. Moody's now rates the company at a higher A3, which is four steps above junk territory.

Nokia's shift to Windows Phone from Symbian is designed to reverse the company's failing market share, but with the first Windows Phone not set to launch until the fourth quarter, there are concerns the company may find it difficult to retrieve lost customers.

The company's management team also faces internal challenges after Nokia said earlier Thursday that Chief Technology Officer Richard Green is taking a leave of absence, to be replaced by Henry Tirri, head of Nokia Research Center.

"We can confirm that Rich Green has taken leave to attend to a personal matter. We have not provided a specific timetable for his return," Nokia spokesman Tomi Kuuppelomaki said, responding to a report from Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that Green is unlikely to return due to differences of opinion over the company's strategy.

"This has no impact on our product strategy or our expected product launch timelines," Nokia added.

Nomura analyst Richard Windsor said shares in Nokia are unlikely to see further weakness on the possible CTO exit. "You can easily see a case of losing a CTO when a lot of your technology is now being outsourced to Microsoft," Windsor says. "Given that Nokia has fallen heavily already, we think it's fairly unlikely we're going to see further weakness," he added. He has a reduce recommendation and a EUR4.0 target.

By: DocMemory
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