Instead of the deal with Microsoft closing in the first quarter of 2014, Nokia has recently announced that it will fall through in April. It’s a timeframe that has been confirmed time and time again but as a result of this delay will mean a blow to both companies.
Microsoft posted a blog on the current situation, which read, “We wanted to provide a brief update on the status of the regulatory process for approval of Microsoft’s acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business. We are nearing the final stages of our global regulatory approval process – to date we have received approvals from regulatory authorities in 15 markets on five continents. Currently, we are awaiting approval confirmation in the final markets. This work has been progressing, and we expect to close next month, in April 2014.”
But one might wonder: What was the reason for this delay?
Nokia says that “the transaction is pending approvals from certain antitrust authorities in Asia which are still conducting their reviews.”
One theory is that Nokia has failed to secure and appeal a lingering tax issue in India where a factory has remained frozen and is part of the $7.2 billion asset transfer.
What this means is that Nokia will not enjoy that big payday in the first quarter and Stephen Elop will have to wait for a month or two before he heads a much-larger hardware division at Microsoft.
It’s also clear that both companies were not wanting to take this into the next quarter, they are still admitting publicly that the deal with close.
That said, the deal, despite the delay, and as mentioned on Microsoft’s blog, could close in the next 30 days.