Tragedies end badly. Nokia makes the point with a vengeance. The mobile phone maker once carried a market capitalisation of over €200bn. Now it proposes to flog off its core mobile devices business (together with a long-term patent licence) to Microsoft – on which it has become increasingly dependent – for €5.4bn. That caused Nokia shares to jump, but still leaves the Finnish group’s market price tag at about €15bn (and enterprise value even lower). This is value destruction of a rare order, and it cannot be blamed solely on former management’s misjudgments about smartphone developments. The €200bn market cap dates to 2001, but in 2008 Nokia was still valued at over €100bn. In the three years since former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop took Nokia’s helm, the group’s stock market worth has halved.

悲剧的结局难免凄惨。诺基亚(Nokia)把这一点演绎到了极致。这家手机制造商的市值曾超过2000亿欧元。如今，它打算将自己核心的移动设备业务（以及长期专利许可）以54亿欧元的价格出售给它已经变得越来越依赖的微软(Microsoft)。此举导致诺基亚股价大幅上涨。尽管如此，这家芬兰集团的市值仍只有150亿欧元左右（企业价值甚至更低）。这样的贬值幅度是罕见的，不能完全归咎于诺基亚前管理层对智能手机市场的误判。尽管2000亿欧元的市值要追溯到2001年，但在2008年时，诺基亚的价值仍有1000多亿欧元。自三年前微软前高管斯蒂芬·埃洛普(Stephen Elop)接任诺基亚首席执行官以来，该集团的市值减少了一半。

Some investors may want to put history behind them and simply ask whether the Microsoft deal is a fair one. Not easy. The US group is paying €3.8bn – well below its net operating cash flow last quarter – for a lossmaking division that might make €11bn in sales this year. Losses have been reducing – they were €75m in the first half – but are likely to persist this year and next at least. Some market analyses attach no value at all to the business. And Mr Elop, who seems to have started discussing the deal with Microsoft before cementing the buyout of Siemens’ stake in Nokia Siemens Networks, has at least left shareholders with a telecoms equipment business to fall back on, plus a cash balance of about €8bn.

一些投资者可能希望将历史抛诸脑后，他们只想知道微软的这次收购是否公平。这个问题还真不容易回答。微软将支付38亿欧元（远低于其上季度的净营运现金流），收购一个处在亏损中的、今年或可实现110亿欧元销售额的部门。诺基亚这个部门的亏损一直在减少，今年一季度亏损7500万欧元，但很可能至少今明两年仍将处于亏损状态。一些市场分析认为，该部门根本毫无价值。埃洛普在敲定全盘收购西门子(Siemens)在诺基亚西门子通信(Nokia Siemens Networks)中的股份之前，似乎就已开始与微软讨论此次的交易。现在，他至少给诺基亚的股东们留下了一块可以仰仗的电信设备业务，以及80亿欧元左右的现金结余。

But that misses the point. Not so long ago, there was genuine debate over whether Nokia should develop an Android phone. It did not. With yesterday’s denouement, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the US tech giant has benefited more from the way the business has been run recently than Nokia shareholders. They should be spitting, not relieved.

但这不是关键。不久前，围绕诺基亚是否应该开发Android手机曾有过一场大辩论。诺基亚最终没有开发。昨日的大结局上演之后，人们很难不得出这样的结论：微软这家美国科技业巨头从诺基亚移动设备业务近年来的营运模式中捞到的好处，要多于诺基亚的股东。诺基亚的股东们应该向这笔交易吐口水，而不是有如释重负的感觉。