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Washington / Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. agreed to sell its feature phone business to FIH Mobile Ltd. and HMD Global for $350 million, exiting a business that once dominated the mobile market under the Nokia name before Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
FIH, part of Foxconn Technology Group, will also acquire a manufacturing facility in Hanoi, Microsoft said in a statement on Wednesday. About 4,500 employees will transfer to the new owners with HMD also signing an agreement to make new devices under the Nokia brand.
Microsoft moved into phone production almost two years ago when it bought the handset division of Nokia in a $9.5 billion deal in a bid to make the company relevant in consumer computing beyond PCs. The company later wrote down most of that purchase.