Microsoft To Complete Purchase Of Nokia’s Hardware Business This Friday

Even a long road has an end. Today Microsoft announced that it will complete its purchase of the preponderance of Nokia’s hardware assets on Friday. The deal has undergone minor adjustment since its initial formulation.

Initially, the Microsoft-Nokia arrangement was expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2014. International hangups pushed that date into the current quarter. The company’s announced that they expected the deal to close in April, the current month. They made that target.

What changed in the deal throughout its conclusory proceedings? Microsoft won’t pick up a Korean “manufacturing facility,” 21 Nokia employees that were not part of the original agreement will transfer to Microsoft, and Redmond will “manage the nokia.com domain and social media sites for the benefit of both companies and our customers for up to a year.” All told, these are minor adjustments when stood next to the $7.2 billion deal that will see Microsoft essentially hire tens of thousands of Nokia employees.

Microsoft and Nokia are both up fractions in regular trading following the news.

You know the deal by now, and why it matters for both companies. Now comes the hard part: Can Microsoft capitalize on its massive capital purchase?

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