Cisco considering buying Nokia

According to the English newspaper Business, Cisco is planning to buy the Finnish telecom giant Nokia. With this move, Cisco wants to get its hands on the technology of the Finnish telecom giant’s wireless infrastructure, the newspaper claims. The newspaper supports its claims by saying that Cisco needs an acquisition to get hold of the wireless technology that the market now demands. Traditionally, Cisco buys up niche players, companies with customers with highly specialized requirements. Now, however, CEO John Chambers seems interested in merging with a major wireless infrastructure company. Nokia then seems to be the most logical merger partner.

However, the chance of a takeover is not great. Nokia is bigger than Cisco (22 billion) with an annual turnover of 29 billion dollars. The stock market value of Cisco is considerably higher (123 billion dollars against 72 billion dollars). Cisco annual reports show that the company has no more than $3.7 billion in cash available for acquisitions. A merger therefore seems more likely.