Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

[btarunr]

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, "Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers."

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, "This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility's stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses."

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, "We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices."

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility's stockholders. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Red_Machine]

Wow, Google will be able to make its own phones. Can anyone say price drop?

 

[mdbrotha03]

Did not see this coming

 

[micropage7]

one word.. cool
it would strenght google and motorola in android market
i guess it would have brighter future

 

[micropage7]

Wow, Google will be able to make its own phones. Can anyone say price drop?

i guess its kinda hard. if you compare android phone price looks pretty competitive over the other os/phone

 

[Kreij]

Wow, Google will be able to make its own phones. Can anyone say price drop?

I'm not sure about that.
The only reason that Google would have to buy Moto would be to integrate proprietary hardware to run the "supercharged android ecosystem".
Given that they will own the patents, this would mean that other phone manufacturers who want to implement the new features would have to get a (another) licence from Google to do so.
Seems to me this would make phones more costly, not less.

Disclaimer : I could be completely wrong.

 

[Fourstaff]

I wonder if it has anything to do with collecting patents.

I can see Google Nexus M

 

[JrRacinFan]

Seems to me this would make phones more costly, not less.

Wouldn't Google then have rights to now charge (or more) for licensing the OS? That would either drive up costs of future Androids or see less of other brands maybe "??" I don't see what Google is trying to do by this merger. Android is supposed to be open source due to being based on a linux core. I'm just rambling here but now if say Google were to also maybe buy **name a PC OEM** I would then see what they are doing. That would be attempting to get even more into the hardware market vs strictly software. Either way, this could also help consumers as well on the service end of things, if you have a problem with your 'droid, call up Google.

**Just me speaking out my butt with thoughts on the matter

 

[de.das.dude]

wait. in simple terms google is buying motorola?

 

[JrRacinFan]

wait. in simple terms google is buying motorola?

Just the "mobile platform" I think

I.E., think Droid X, Droid X2, Droid, Droid 2 Global, Droid 3.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I wonder if it has anything to do with collecting patents.

+1

Back in the day Motorola also used to build x86 CPUs for the really early Apple Macs.

I know they still make processors for a few portable things for consumers and maybe a few things for industry but I think all of that has gone to shit with the appearance of ARM, VIA (nano) and Intels own Atom.

So Motorola could have an x86 licence lying around.

 

[W1zzard]

So Motorola could have an x86 licence lying around.

won't help unless they make their own chipsets

 

[FreedomEclipse]

won't help unless they make their own chipsets

maybe so, but that x86 license still opens up a lot of possible doors to them. they can talk to VIA about making chipsets anyway. VIA have been under the radar for a long time. and who knows if they will form a partnership.

 

[The Witcher]

One day Google will control the world.......

 

[cheesy999]

One day Google will control the world.......

doesn't sound too bad, google as a company are generally pretty nice to people, would you prefer a company like apple or microsoft? so that everything in life can be overpriced and have massive DRM

That said think of the level of advertisements you'd get with google!

 

[de.das.dude]

well, i dont like google's social networking sites, such awkward layouts and designs! which means they are mostly geeks with talent but no creative skills LOL

 

[Wyverex]

A cool quote I found on OSnews regarding this (breaking) news:

"This effectively means that while Microsoft and Apple thought they had bought a powerful anti-competitive patent club to hit Google with, they have now spent $4.5 billion on a patent portfolio about 1/4th the size of Motorola's."

 

[Steevo]

I saw this, Motorola has been disillusioning customers with mobile devices and the "open" platform for awhile. They almost went under but their great Droid helped them through, but their not so great policies for the rest of the world, and many other devices showing their true shit brown souls helped them to have a non stop barrage of insults on their facebook Europe page, and on most of their forums.


Motofail is almost a household name for those of us that paid hundreds of dollars for "the phone without compromise" only to learn how the compromising was of our ass, they sold a locked phone that took months and months, to fix issues with a phone that was sold with no flash and other major issues.

Tis why I now own Samsung Galaxy II instead of another moto product.

 

[Damn_Smooth]

Unlocked bootloaders on a Motorola phone???? Can we finally get a true sequel to the original Droid?

 

[W1zzard]

does google even need other companies now for android to succeed?
if google turns android closed source they would have instantly crippled all cellphone makers except for apple and nokia (oh teh irony) ?

 

[Kreij]

doesn't sound too bad, google as a company are generally pretty nice to people

Google does what is good for Google just like every other company.
They don't give a crap about you if it does not make them money or spins them in a positive PR light (so they can make more money).

 

[kirtar]

Why do I get the feeling that most if not all future Nexus phones will be motorola -_-

 

[brandonwh64]

Unlocked bootloaders on a Motorola phone???? Can we finally get a true sequel to the original Droid?

I love my OG droid

 

[Damn_Smooth]

I love my OG droid

It was an awesome phone. Motorola should never have fucked it up by locking the bootloaders on their later models.

I would have loved an unlocked Droid X at the time it came out.

 

[micropage7]

i believe google plan like apple, where they build os and build the hardware but not as explicit like that