Microsoft, Nokia Merger Deal Update: January 23 Nokia Q4 2013 Conference Call Likely to Finalize $7.2 Billion Merger

The Microsoft and Nokia deal might be in its final stages ahead of the Finnish company's 2013 fourth quarter earnings conference call.

Nokia has confirmed Jan. 23 as the publication date for their fourth quarter 2013 and full year 2013 results report via a conference call from its Finnish headquarters. The report will be available on Nokia's website after the conference call.

n interesting note within the Nokia statement about the conference call was found in the "Forward-Looking Statements."

According to Nokia, "After receiving shareholder approval of the pending sale of substantially all of its Devices & Services business at our Extraordinary General Meeting in November last year, Nokia is reporting substantially all of its Devices & Services business as discontinued operations in its fourth quarter 2013 and full year 2013 results report."

The phrase "discontinued operations" might allude to the Microsoft acquisition of Nokia's mobile division coming to a close.

As WMPowerUser noted, the acquisition of Nokia's handset division has passed regulatory bodies in Europe India, and the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice cleared for Microsoft and Nokia to merge in a deal worth $7.2 billion last December. According to Microsoft, the tentative merger has been projected for final approval for early 2014.

Microsoft's relationship with Nokia has been well documented since 2011 when it launched the first Nokia Windows Phone with the Lumia 800. The Microsoft-Nokia partnership continues in 2013 with the recent launch of the Lumia 1020.

"Building on our successful partnership, we can now bring together the best of Microsoft's software engineering with the best of Nokia's product engineering, award-winning design, and global sales, marketing and manufacturing," said then-Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop last September, who transitions to Executive Vice President of Devices and Services. "With this combination of talented people, we have the opportunity to accelerate the current momentum and cutting-edge innovation of both our smart devices and mobile phone products."

According to Neowin, Microsoft is also expected to report its fourth quarter 2013 earnings on Jan. 23.