HMD Global CEO Arto Nummela calls it quit

HMD Global, the new home of Nokia phones has announced that its CEO Arto Nummela has left the company with immediate effect. The company did not share why Nummela is leaving the company but said that the decision was mutual.

Florian Seiche who has been co-leading HMD Global as President since the start of the company has been appointed as the interim CEO. Seiche was previously the President of HTC and group director of French Telecom Orange.

“Arto Nummela has played a key role in the creation of the HMD Global operation, building the team and launching our first products,” explained Sam Chin, chairman of the board at HMD Global. “On behalf of the whole board, I thank Arto for his contribution and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Nummela was formerly Nokia's head of Microsoft Mobile Devices business in Greater Asia, Middle East and Africa. After Microsoft exited the mobile hardware market, Nummela seemed a natural leader to spearhead Nokia's move to rekindle its brand on mobile phones through HMD Global. It's unclear what Nummela plans to do next.