Business person: top management veteran Pekka Rantala (ex-Nokia, ex-Rovio)

The “Business Person” column tells the readers of Megamind about the stories and facts surrounding the most prominent IT entrepreneurs from around the world, the value of the companies under whose management exceeds any reasonable limits. We will not be limited only to the “new wave" of businessmen, and we will talk about those who are usually called the "old school."

Today, a close-up is Pekka Rantala, the ex-head of Rovio (the developer of the game Angry Birds), a man who devoted 19 years of his life to work at Nokia.

In the context of modern realities, stories of such a long-term relationship between the founders of a company and a top manager hired by the side are becoming less and less common.

Pekka Rantala was born in 1966 and lives in Espoo (Finland). Rantala graduated from the School of Economics in Helsinki. His career and professional development are connected with Nokia. Rantala came there at the age of 28.

Alma Nokia

The Finnish company Nokia was founded in 1865. For one hundred and fifty years of its existence, the company generated electricity, produced paper and gas masks, sold computers and telecommunication equipment for telephone exchanges.

Now Nokia is associated with mobile phones, which the company has successfully produced since the early 2000s. From the 2000s to 2011, it occupied the largest share in the mobile phone market.



During his time at Rantala, he changed many positions. In 1994, he took the position of Mobile Phone Export Manager. He was responsible for the expansion of the company to Africa, Portugal, Israel and the Baltic states. In 1996, he became Executive Director of the mobile division of the company in Austria and Switzerland, and in 1998 Italy was transferred to him.

Rantala began the year 2000 in her new position as vice president of Nokia Mobile Phones at EMEA. EMEA is an economic region that includes Europe (including Russia), the Middle East and Africa.

In 2003, Pekka Rantala participated in the launch of the N-Gage portable game console . According to experts, the ecosystem formed around this together with game developers could be considered a prototype of the modern market for mobile games.



In 2004, Rantala became Senior Vice President of the new Nokia division - Multimedia Business Group.

And two years later, Pekka Rantala was promoted to Senior Vice President, Customer Relations and Marketing. In the same year, 2006, for the first time, he paid an official visit to Russia and gave an interview to a local correspondent.

“It is very important to understand that our mobile devices have evolved - these are not just mobile phones, but something more that we prefer to call“ multimedia computers ”. I am absolutely sure that it is more important for consumers to purchase a device designed specifically for their local market. Therefore, our main activity in this matter is aimed at informing consumers, ”Rantala said in an interview .

10 years have passed since then and it seems familiar to everyone that mobile devices have “evolved”. And then Pekka Rantala was far from the last person in this “evolutionary” process.

In the fall of 2013, Nokia announced the sale of its mobile business to Microsoft.for 5.44 billion euros. Pekka Rantala was forced to leave the company.

Stronger drinks, shorter budget

However, Rantala continued to increase the level of his posts. In October 2013, he became CEO of Hartwall , an alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage company .

In January 2014, Hartwall will be forced to lay off 140 workers, and the main reason was the decline in demand for drinks and economic instability.

Such phenomena as private import of alcohol from Estonia in unlimited quantities, tax increases and regulation of advertising activities require changes in the company’s activities, then noted Pekka Rantala.

It was unlikely that he could have foreseen such a turn and the need to make unpopular decisions a few months after joining the company. After that, the newly-made CEO did not last long there. At Hartwell, Rantala worked for only 7 months.

Angry Birds: normal flight

“In 2003, Rovio was a very small startup developing mobile games,” recalls Rantala. “The first 6 years were especially difficult [for the company]. They have released over 50 games, but none have been successful. In 2009, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. ”

Angry Birds appeared in court in December 2009 and became 52 in a row, but the first in importance in the fate of the company. The game, as they say, “took off” and the next 5 years passed under the sign of Angry Birds.



But in December 2014, a Finnish game development company was forced to cut staff. About 110 people lost their jobs. At that time, the company employed 814 people.

Former head of the company Michael Head explained the unpopular measures by the fact that the growth in the game market was not as large as expected. As VentureBeat noted, this statement could mean a loss of user interest in Rovio products. In this regard, there was a need for a reorganization of activities in the departments of games, media and consumer products. “Tough decisions are best made sooner rather than later,” Head wrote.

In 2013, Rovio's revenue was 156 million euros ($ 197 million), an increase of less than 4 million euros compared to 2012. The net profit of the Finnish company for the year has more than halved to 26.9 million euros. Most of the revenue was obtained from the sale of toys and other related products.

In August 2014, Pekka Rantala took over as CEO of the company. With 19 years of Nokia experience, Rantala was well prepared for his new appointment at Rovio.

Michael Head, meanwhile, joined the Board of Directors of the company.

After his appointment as General Director Pekka Rantala Rovio he has also been invited to the board - not only Rovio, and the JOT Automation's Ltd .

JOT is a Finnish company developing software and hardware systems for testing and automation of systems based on mobile OS. The company employs 300 people who work in 9 countries.

New challenges

In August 2015, Rovio Entertainment again reduced about 40% of its employees. Rovio management decided to abandon their plans for work in the field of education. 260 people left the company.

Rovio ended 2015 with an operating loss of 13 million euros ($ 14.7 million) versus a profit of $ 10 million a year earlier. Developer revenue fell from 158 million to 142 million euros.

“The constant growth of Rovio and our irresistible desire to seek new business opportunities have led to the fact that in recent years we have too much energy. In our current financial situation, we must focus on what works best for us. Namely, to create exciting new games, shoot a spectacular animated film and delight our fans with quality projects, ”Rantala said, discussing the reasons for the cuts with reporters.



In December 2015, the Finnish company Rovio informed the public about the departure of Pekka Rantala from the post of CEO. His place was taken by Katie Levoranta. Prior to that, she was director of legal affairs at the same company.

Rantala worked as CEO for a little over a year.

Speaking about his departure from Rovio, he assured that he did so of his own free will, however, he did not name the specific reasons that prompted him to such a radical decision: “At some point I realized that the time had come to move away from the usual affairs and move towards new challenges. "

In May 2016, the premiere of the full-length cartoon Angry Birds Movie is scheduled. “Showing Angry Birds on the big screen is our old dream. I am so proud of this movie. I can't wait to see it all, ”said Michael Head, chairman of Rovio Animation Company. The company hopes that the release of the film will help them increase sales.

But the animated film, which Rantala called "spectacular," is presented, alas, without his presence.