Closing of Microsoft's Nokia Acquisition Delayed Until April

If you’ve been thinking that since Microsoft announced its intentions to acquire most of Nokia’s mobile operations for the sum of $7.2 billion way back in September, the deal must be nearly closed by this point, you’re kind of right. After all, at that time, Microsoft expected the deal to be closed before the end of Q1 2014 itself. However, it doesn’t seem as though the situation is going as planned.

According to Nokia, the deal’s closing has been delayed until April because it still needs to be approved in China, where Google and Samsung have put on the brakes by asking local authorities to consider how the deal could impact patent licensing fees. India is another troubled area due to disputed taxes related to one of Nokia’s factories that would be transferred to Microsoft in the deal, but Nokia denies that this has any bearing “on the timing of the closing or the material deal terms of the anticipated transaction.”

So, it seems China is the only real sticking point here. Indeed, Nokia explicitly stated that both itself and Microsoft have “already received most of the required regulatory approvals, including approvals from the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.” In other words, as soon as antitrust authorities in China give the go ahead, the deal will be made official.

It does seem to be a case of “when” rather than “if” as well as both Nokia and Microsoft have stated they are confident that the transaction will close.

This transaction is an important element of Microsoft’s recent expansion into mobile hardware production, which began with the first Surface. Even though both generations of Surface tablets, including its RT and Pro variants, have received plenty of praise in terms of build quality, it’s likely the next generation will be further strengthened by Nokia’s expertise.