Nokia stock surges on news of Microsoft deal

The share price of Nokia surged by 47 percent in the Helsinki stock market Tuesday, after it announced the sale of its mobiles and services division to Microsoft.

The Finland-based mobile giant signed an agreement with Microsoft to sell its devices and services business and licence its patents to the latter for 5.44 billion euros. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014, Nokia said in a press release.

Immediately after opening of the stock exchange market in Helsinki at 10 a.m. local time, Nokia's share price surged by 47 percent, from 2.96 euros to 4.33 euros, Xinhua reported.

Following the deal, Nokia plans to focus on infrastructure, mapping and licensing, mainly taking care of the network of NSN, location software of HERE and Advanced Technologies.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will return to Microsoft and Risto Siilasmaa, the founder of F-Secure security softwares, will lead the company in the transition period.

Some 32,000 workers will be transferred to Microsoft, with 4,700 of them located in Finland, according to Finnish broadcasting company Yle. The headquarters of Nokia will remain in Espoo, Finland.