Nokia said its shareholders have approved the $7.4 billion takeover by Microsoft.

The Finnish phone maker said more than 99 percent of its shareholders voted, in itsExtraordinary General Meeting, in favor of the sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.

"This is a significant step forward for Nokia. We are delighted that shareholders have given us overwhelmingly strong support to proceed with this transformative agreement," said Nokia Board Chairman and interim CEO, Risto Siilasmaa. "Today's vote brings us closer to completing a transaction which will mark the beginning of the next chapter in Nokia's near 150-year history, offering the potential of greater value for shareholders."

Nokia agreed to sell its devices and mapping service to Microsoft in September this year. The deal costs Microsoft 5.4 billion euros (approx. $7.4 billion); however, the deal will also end the brand name of Nokia.

The Finnish company was once the world's largest seller of handsets in the world; however, it lost a major chunk of its market share to rivals such as Apple, Samsung, HTC, and more. While Nokia's smartphone sales got hit by the growing popularity of iPhone, it saw diminishing sales of cheaper feature phones as Samsung gained ground. The company's smartphone division recently started to pick up pace with the launch of Lumia line of smartphones running on Windows Phone 8 (WP8).

According to research firm Gartner, Nokia is still placed at number two in the overall mobile phone market with a market share of 13.8 percent market share in Q3 of this year, putting it behind Samsung, which has a 25.7 percent market share, but ahead of Apple, which has a market share of 6.7 percent. However, in the smartphone market, Nokia is lagging far behind at the eighth spot.

Following the announcement, Nokia's ADRs closed around three percent lower on Tuesday, November 19. On Thursday, they closed on a positive note at $7.95.