Nokia shareholders embrace $7.2B Microsoft deal
An overwhelming number of shareholders vote in favor of selling Nokia's Devices business.
Nokia shareholders have overwhelmingly decided that the company should sell off its Devices and Services business to Microsoft.
Ahead of a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Nokia reported that 99.7 percent of those investors who had voted before the meeting had approved the transaction, the Financial Times is reporting. Those investors held four-fifths of the voting shares, making the actual vote during the meeting a formality.
Microsoft announced in September plans to acquire Nokia's Devices and Services unit for $7.2 billion. Microsoft will pay $5 billion for "substantially all" of Nokia's mobile phone division and the remaining $2.2 billion to license the handset maker's patents. Once the deal is approved, Stephen Elop, who stepped down as Nokia CEO, will head up Microsoft's devices business.
Neither Microsoft nor Nokia have officially announced shareholder approval of the deal, since the mobile company's meeting is still going on.
Although Nokia's shareholders have approved the deal, closing conditions and regulatory approval must be obtained before the companies can complete the transaction.