20-F Filing by Nokia Reveals Microsoft Will Pay More Cash Than it Receives in the Agreement Between Both Parties


By: Jeff Stewart  |   March 8th, 2013   |   News, Smartphones

The latest 20-F filling by Nokia on Thursday, March 7 has revealed that the company has received more cash from Microsoft as compared to what it has paid to the leading software developer in form of Windows Phone royalties. According to the agreement between the two multinational corporations, Nokia has to disburse an undisclosed amount to Microsoft in order to license each Windows Phone-based device it sells. During the entire period of that agreement Nokia will have to disburse more money to Microsoft. However, this year the balance sheet of the Finnish mobile manufacturer is in its favour, as the amount it will receive from Microsoft for being a platform support will exceed what it pays for licenses.

 

Here is a part of 20-F filing from Nokia:

 

“Our agreement with Microsoft includes platform support payments from Microsoft to us as well as software royalty payments from us to Microsoft. Under the terms of the agreement governing the platform support payments, the amount of each quarterly platform support payment is USD 250 million. We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes annual minimum software royalty commitments that vary over the life of the agreement. Software royalty payments, with minimum commitments are paid quarterly. Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US dollars.

 

Over the life of the agreement the total amount of the platform support payments is expected to slightly exceed the total amount of the minimum software royalty commitment payments. As of the end of 2012, the amount of platform support payments received by Nokia has exceeded the amount of minimum software royalty commitment payments made to Microsoft, thus the net cash flows have been in our favour. As a result, the remaining minimum software royalty commitment payments are expected to exceed the remaining platform support payments by a total of approximately EUR 0.5 billion over the remaining life of the agreement.

 

However, in 2013 the amount of the platform support payments is expected to slightly exceed the total amount of the minimum software royalty commitment payments, thus the net cash flows are still expected to be slightly in our favour. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the platform support payments and annual minimum software royalty commitment payments continue for a corresponding period of time. We have recognized a portion of the received platform support payments as a benefit to our Smart Devices cost of goods sold and the remainder as a liability as part of accrued expenses and other liabilities on our balance sheet.”

 

Source: PhoneArena

Photo: TechnoBuffalo

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