It’s official. Google has gone ahead and sold Motorola to Lenovo China for US$2.91 billion despite investing so much in the company for the past 24 months.
Motorola did prosper with Google thanks to handsets like the Moto X however it looks like the search giant couldn’t avoid the heat from other manufacturers wondering if Motorola would receive preferential treatment when it came to Android technologies and update releases.
“It is win-win,” said analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies in Silicon Valley. “Google keeps the patents and the research group, and they keep partners off their back, while Lenovo gets what they need to get into the US smartphone market.”
Despite the acquirement, Lenovo shares fall on Thursday as shareholders were concerned about whether Motorola was a profitable buy.
“Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem,” Google chief executive Larry Page said in a statement. So we will just have to wait and see what the future is for Motorola in China. And then there is the aftermath such as what will happen to the US Motorola jobs.
