Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia last September has been rolling along since the initial announcement and purchased details emerged, but it seems that MS are confident that the deal will be finalised in the coming weeks with an estimated completion date falling into ‘April’.
Microsoft had initially stated that the purchase of the Finnish company Nokia would be done by the first quarter of 2014, but due to a few delays both companies are now hoping for a Q2 sale.
The deal is worth $7.2 billion and will see Microsoft buying out Nokia in its full, but proceedings have been held up by the sheer magnitude of the purchase. The deal has had to go through most of the regulatory bodies of the world, to make sure the sale is fair and legitimate.
However, Microsoft seems to be confident that the end is in sight for its latest purchase as the company has published a blog on its official website detailing the latter stages of the deal.
The company stated that the deal is “nearing the final stages of our global regulatory approval process” and that “to date [Microsoft] have received approvals from regulatory authorities in 15 markets on five continents.” and that they are “awaiting approval confirmation in the final markets. This work has been progressing, and we expect to close next month, in April 2014”.
When the deal is finalised, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop can finally take over his new role within Microsoft as the head of the Hardware Division and both Microsoft and Nokia can move forward with the ongoing expansion of the Windows Phone 8 operating system.
Many assume that the Nokia brand will eventually be removed from Microsoft’s products, but at the moment Nokia has a host of new devices in the pipeline that will see the name carrying on for the foreseeable future. It is expected that the Nokia name will be removed from all Lumia phones and replaced with Microsoft branding going forward, although Nokia will still be supplying more basic phones under its own name.