Stephen Elop is set to be $25 million USD richer after the Microsoft buyout Nokia’s handset business goes through in early 2014. This money will be paid to the former Nokia CEO using share schemes and incentives, along with 18 months of his salary. Not bad for a man who pretty much paved the way for Microsoft to purchase Nokia’s handset business for pennies compared to what it was worth 5 years ago.

When Elop took the reins as Nokia’s CEO in 2010, he quickly pushed the company to abandon its own mobile operating systems for that of Windows Phone. Now, the plan could have worked out well in the end; however, Android and iOS were too far ahead of Windows Phone in terms of functionality at the time. In addition, Microsoft was very slow in bringing forth the features users want, which helped to cripple Nokia even further.

Nokia began to regain market share in some markets after the launch of Windows Phone 8, but by then, it was too late. If Windows Phone 7 had the features of Windows Phone 8 back in 2011, things could have been different right now, but alas, that was never the case.

It is difficult to see why Elop — who came from Microsoft to Nokia and will go back to Microsoft after the purchase is complete — deserves a bonus after he failed to help revive Nokia. Probably those talks of him being a Microsoft Trojan horse were true, and if so, then he has done a splendid job so far. Sounds like a payoff, doesn’t it?

Hey, don’t be too surprised if Elop becomes the next CEO of Microsoft come 2014, I mean, the man has earned his keep.

[via BBC, image via Wikipedia]