Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) has been one of the greatest disasters in telecom and communications out there as far as raw market value lost.  Research-in-Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is a runner-up, and the giant Palm fiasco comes to mind. But now there is this pesky trading chatter that Samsung may try to acquire the company at a whopping price of 4 Euros per share.  Samsung, along with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), have rendered Nokia worthless in key markets where smartphones are all that matter now.  How many people do you know that have a Nokia phone now?

A buyout of Nokia is something we would be very skeptical of.  Samsung has been aggressive in taking share, so in effect it may be considered inside that Samsung that it is doing the same thing as buying Nokia without sending a single cent to the Nokia shareholders.  If the company eventually dies, Samsung took the market share…

We pondered as long ago as a year that RIM and Nokia should make a last-ditch consideration of a merger to try to stave off the bleeding before it is too late. That merger is now too late and it is now a stretch, maybe ‘and then some.’  But the other stance is that only global poverty will save Nokia and that is a sad supposition for everyone.

So, rumors are rumors and traders chase rumors based on a quick buck rather than on sound logic.  Nokia’s New York ADRs are trading up 4.7% at $2.96 and the 52-week trading range is $2.61 to $7.38.  The market value is still $11 billion today and this ADR was at nearly $40 per share in late 2007 before Apple and Google took over the world of cellphones with the new version of screen-only smartphones.

This rumor is hard to believe and we would treat it as hearsay until something more concrete surfaces.  That being said, money is money and the term “Rumor Friday” was not just created on accident.

JON C. OGG

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