You seem to misremember a few things. MSFT paid $7.2bn. After 3 years Microsoft wrote it off as a loss.
That amount of money is roughly what the top two smart phone manufacturers make in one week of sales. The industry represents a multi trillion dollar combined market cap due to smart phone sales. Then there is all the new businesses it enabled, creating wealth for developers.
Oh yes, Nokia lost. There really isn't any spin one can put on that.
Are you talking about individuals or the organization? I’m sure some employees in management “won” financially, there are very few failed companies where that isn’t the case.
