Stephen Elop (photo via Wikipedia)

Nokia paid big bucks to dislodge Stephen Elop from Microsoft. The former president of the Microsoft Business Division, who joined the struggling mobile handset maker as CEO last September, received a $6 million signing bonus as part of his compensation package. And that doesn’t even include his annual salary, which was set at $1.4 million. Nokia said in a filing today that the more than $6 million in signing bonus — a portion of which was paid last October and a second $3 million installment which will be paid out this October — was “compensation for lost income from his prior employer.”

Elop must return all or some of the cash in case of early termination.  The compensation plan was laid out today in a filing by Nokia. (Page 140)

Elop does have a huge chore in front of him, repositioning the company as its market share continues to slip to upstart mobile operating systems such as Apple iOS and Android. As part of that effort, Elop has structured a deal with Microsoftand its new mobile operating system.

Reports surfaced earlier this month that as part of that arrangement, Microsoft has agreed to pay Nokia $1 billion. As part of that agreement, Nokia has agreed to make Windows Phone the bedrock operating system of its smartphone efforts.

John Cook is co-founder of GeekWire, a technology news site based in Seattle. Follow on Twitter: @geekwirenews.

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