Final Word from Thursday, September 5, 2013
Some Finns are incensed that the handset part of their national treasure, Nokia, is being sold off to Microsoft. Part of the problem, in their view, is that CEO Stephen Elop arrived at Nokia from Microsoft and will now return to it. There had been speculation for years that he was a Trojan horse working for Microsoft, and the terms of this deal tended to confirm it for some of them. This will sound familiar to people who have been wondering for years why Adrian Sarbu was kept on as president of CME, given its huge losses during his tenure. Stories about how he was a plant for Time Warner were a dime a dozen in Prague. There was also the case of Milan Tománek, who left as ČSOB's press spokesman to join the CNB in late 1999, just as plans for taking over IPB were revving up. After the deal was done, Tománek returned to ČSOB. Czech business is no slouch either when it comes to Trojan-horse takeovers. [Czech Republic mobile phones Czech National Bank forced administration CETV]
Glossary of difficult words
Trojan horse - a person or thing intended secretly to undermine or bring about the downfall of an enemy or opponent;
incensed - very angry;
tenure - term in office;
plant - a person placed in a group as a spy or informer;
a dime a dozen - very common and of no particular value;
to rev up - to increase the speed of; to increase the running speed of an engine by pressing the accelerator, esp. while the clutch is disengaged;
slouch - an incompetent person;
takeover - the acquisition of one company by another.