Rajeev Suri to be named as next Nokia CEO on Tuesday: Report

Nokia, which is set to close the sale of its phone business to Microsoft, will on Tuesday name Rajeev Suri as its next CEO and outline its new strategy with a focus on its networks equipment business, a newspaper said on Friday. Citing unnamed sources, daily Helsingin Sanomat said Nokia would also on Tuesday, along with its first-quarter results, announce how much cash it would pay out to shareholders. Investors have been looking forward to hearing about Nokia's next steps since it announced the 5.4 billion euro ($7.5 billion) Microsoft deal in September. Nokia said earlier this week it expected the deal to close on Friday after the companies had agreed to modify certain deal conditions. The company's Chennai plant is currently still under investigation in a tax row and is likely to not be a part of the Microsoft deal. In fact, reports say that Nokia may end up using the production facility, one of its largest in the world, for contract manufacturing. 46-year-old Suri, born in India, has been widely considered the leading candidate for the CEO post as in recent years he has helped the network division Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) turn profitable with a drastic restructuring plan and by ditching unprofitable businesses. The newspaper also said Nokia would over time abandon the name NSN. Nokia was not immediately available for comment. Reuters