Jolla is in search of a European partner to take Rostelecom’s place
There is no avoiding the fact that war is a terrible thing, and everyone who advocates this solution to geopolitical issues either has not experienced the sorrow it brings or has never watched documentaries about the tragedies that have happened during the last century. Currently, the world is polarized, but our civilisation has never been divided into two poles. All of us are unique in our own ways and full of fascinating qualities you can discover every day during your lifetime.
However, the recent conflict is once again disrupting the way the business is conducted, and it affects all the companies that work with Russia or are owned by the Russian state. One of them is Jolla, which is experiencing difficulties at the moment. The Russian nation or people cannot be blamed for what is happening, but the Russian state can. Jolla doesn’t agree with how Russia chose to settle things with their neighbour. Jolla’s problem is that Rostelecom, which owns plenty of shares in the company and which saved the company with the investment back in 2016, is a Russian company in which the state holds about 45% of the equity.
Since the beginning of 2021, Jolla has distanced itself from the Russian business scene, but that doesn’t change the fact that Rostelecom owns a considerable part of the company. Jolla is now seeking a partner that can buy off the Rstelecom shares, and since the Finns are present in both automotive and OS businesses, they have been in contact with Daimler about this issue. The Finnish government was also approached by Jolla to sort things out, but we do not know if Nokia was contacted about ownership in Jolla.
The discussion regarding the Russian investment in Jolla was started on LinkedIn by Samuli Simojoki, who is an independent member and chairman of Jolla’s board. I believe that Jolla isn’t the only company that has these kinds of issues. Although distancing from Russia might appear like the right course of action now, the innocent working class will suffer the most.
However, the ideal scenario would be if Nokia would purchase Rostelecom’s stake in Jolla and once again support something that this telecom giant nested more than 10 years ago.
Cheers DBS for the tip 😉
