SteveBallmerandNokia_WebAfter a long road through several regulatory bodies, Microsoft has finally cleared all of the hurdles standing between it and a successful acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services business.

The deal, which was announced in September of last year, will close on Friday, according to a post to the Official Microsoft Blog by Brad Smith, the company’s General Counsel & Executive Vice President for Legal & Corporate Affairs. At the time, the deal was valued at $7.2 billion.

The deal has undergone a few changes since the announcement. Microsoft will now be in charge of managing Nokia.com and Nokia’s social media properties for a year after the acquisition, and Microsoft will hire 21 Chinese employees from Nokia’s Chief Technology Office who are working on mobile.

In addition, Nokia will retain ownership of its manufacturing plant in South Korea, which was originally a part of the deal. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the Korean facility’s exclusion changed the price that Microsoft will pay for Nokia.

The news comes almost two weeks after China’s Ministry of Commerce approved the deal. The two companies originally expected that the acquisition would close in March, but regulatory delays pushed the deal into April. The delays haven’t stopped Nokia from releasing new phones: former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop took the stage at Microsoft’s Build developer conference last month to announce a trio of new models that will launch this year.

Nokia as a company will still live on, in part through the grace of its patent portfolio, which is not included in Microsoft’s acquisition, though Microsoft will be getting a license to the entire portfolio. Earlier this year, Nokia reached a patent licensing deal with HTC that includes the two companies working together on new wireless technologies relating to LTE. That deal may be a harbinger of the Finland-based company’s plans going forward.

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