Symbian Starts Final Nokia Sale Process

Smartphone platform vendor Symbian said Friday that it has started the pre-emption process that could enable other shareholders of the company dilute Nokia's influence as the Finnish telecom vendor tries to gain controlling interest.

Nokia, which currently owns 32.2 percent of Symbian, is trying to buy the shares in the company currently held by Psion, which owns 31.1 percent. That would give Nokia a controlling interest in Symbian.

However, under the terms of the ownership agreement, other owners of Symbian can pre-empt Nokia by buying more shares of Symbian. The second largest current owner of Symbian is Ericsson, with 17.5 percent of the stock. The other owners -- Panasonic, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson, all own less than 10 percent.

Symbian said in a statement that it expected the pre-emption process to be completed in early July.