Nokia’s Jorma Ollila to join Royal Dutch Shell

Nokia just announced that they would have a change of leadership at the top with Jorma Ollila being replaced by Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. Now, the latest news in is that Royal Dutch Shell has picked up Jorma Ollila to become their chairperson when he steps down at Nokia next year. He would then be succeeding Aad Jacobs as its non-executive chairperson on 1 June 2006, the same day he leaves Nokia.

Jorma Ollila has had massive influence at Nokia where he transformed the company to become the largest seller of mobile phones in the world. He joined the company in 1992 and decided to move on with his life earlier this week. He said that the offer from Shell is a “wonderful opportunity”. Shell’s deputy chairman Lord Kerr of Kinlochard said in a statement: “We were looking world-wide for a chairman with international standing, a global outlook and proven success in managing a complex organization”.

Shell is struggling to restore investor confidence after it overstating oil reserves by 41 percent. This misstatement last year by Shell led to the ouster of former Chairman Philip Watts and two other senior executives. Worse, regulators also started probing in the company due to shareholder lawsuits in their US and UK operations.

Ollila appointment at the top would be the first time the company would be picking up an individual from outside its home countries of the Netherlands and Great Britain.