Google Selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 Billion

[jrswizzle]

That vertical solution was the Moto X

And they unfortunately only sold about 500,000 of them in the first 3 months.

Hard to look at that and say, "hey, nice start" when Sammy barfed out 10 million GS4's in its FIRST month.

Like I said before, a shame the best (HTC, Moto) are being trampled and driven into the ground.

 

[mrhick01]

Google up over in 2% after hours trading so Wall Street seems to be happy. Imagine what Wall Street would do to Apple if they bought a company for $12B and sold it 2 years later for $2B.

The stock price would halve in a day (hyperbole, but not by much)

 

[John.B]

lenovo buys a mobile division for 2.9 billion from google and google just paid 3.2 billion for a smoke detector company. somethings not right here.... why would you, like why ? you got android. why not make a vertical solution like apple combining hardware and software.

what a waste google.

Apparently adult supervision might still be required...

I wonder what they'll get for Nest two years from now.

 

[robjulo]

Google up over in 2% after hours trading so Wall Street seems to be happy. Imagine what Wall Street would do to Apple if they bought a company for $12B and sold it 2 years later for $2B.

Yes. There is a vast Wall Street conspiracy against Apple.

 

[MrXiro]

More like "selling the corpse of Motorola" after having their way with it and tossing it to the curb... they didn't even think it was worth 1/2 of what they paid after that raping.

 

[Tiger8]

This is a shame. The Moto X and Moto G look like some really nice phones, both by the top of their respective Android markets.

Yet Google did not release a single nexus with Motorola, things that make you go hmmmm....

 

[paul4339]

lenovo buys a mobile division for 2.9 billion from google and google just paid 3.2 billion for a smoke detector company. somethings not right here.... why would you, like why ? you got android. why not make a vertical solution like apple combining hardware and software.

what a waste google.

Even if they wanted to, I'm guessing Google probably doesn't need most of Motorola Mobility to make a vertical solution. They can make a good Nexus phone by teaming up with companies like LG, and outsource the manufacturing it the same way Apple does. Plus I think it was bleeding over 0.25 billion per quarter... and that's after they pared-down the company.

.

 

[jrswizzle]

Yet Google did not release a single nexus with Motorola, things that make you go hmmmm....

The deal was finalized in 2012.....meaning the only Nexus they could potentially have tried for was the Nexus 5.

That's the whole point - Google hadn't even had Moto for 2 years before dumping it - and apparently they would've done it sooner had it not been for tax reasons.

 

[Todd B.]

Google is a failure at hardware, which is why it's pretty surprising people are handing over $1500 for a beta product Google will get tired of and kill off when nobody buys it.

Google up over in 2% after hours trading so Wall Street seems to be happy. Imagine what Wall Street would do to Apple if they bought a company for $12B and sold it 2 years later for $2B.

Wall St. is pretty much a joke, any way. Who cares what rich snobs think?

 

[iBug2]

Yes. There is a vast Wall Street conspiracy against Apple.

Apple should keep buying shares back.

 

[wizard]

If they weren't into losing money hand over fist, they wouldn't be in the Android business And.. the stock is UP???

Apple just posted fourth highest profit for any company in the history of ever. The stock goes down???

This just goes to prove that our country is DOOMED. Wall Street and government are filled with idiots.

Yes to the fact that Wall Street and Government are filled with idiots. I've seen this first hand with ruined publicly traded companies. The problem is who's to blame, for that we need lots of mirrors. Hopefully people will realize that to change things the idiots in Washington must be eliminated. We need a government that attacks people with brains and a conviction in their viewpoint more than any thing else right now. Washington is a chess pool of liberalism.

 

[John.B]

Moto's losses while a Google company totaled about $1.6 billion on roughly $8 billion in revenue.

I like the way that's written, makes it sound better than it is. As though the revenue somehow makes up for the loss. Wallstreetspeak.

Here is what really happened: $8 billion in revenue - $9.6 billion in expenses = -$1.6 billion in losses. In a year and a half.

 

[SeanR1]

Sad day.

 

[B4U]

ow...

Another American company sold to Chinese company...

 

[jrswizzle]

I like the way that's written, makes it sound better than it is. As though the revenue somehow makes up for the loss. Wallstreetspeak.

Here is what really happened: $8 billion in revenue - $9.6 billion in expenses = -$1.6 billion in losses. In a year and a half.

My line was copied from some article.

Anyone who understands basic business knows when you see the word "losses" there's no silver lining.

Though I will say, the year and a half is exactly what makes it perplexing. They didn't really even give it any time to grab hold and grow.....despite the low sales figures, the Moto X and G had been praised by reviewers. Perhaps a second generation would've garnered more consumer attention as Samsung cuts back on its marketing and spews more TouchWiz garbage.

Anyhow, I really like my Moto G. Guess I'll throw it up on the shelf with my other collectibles. Gonna make sure not to update it either so it still opens with "Motorola: A Google Company" lol

 

[John.B]

They're not gonna ditch them anymore

Momentum is slowing and they just entered a deal with Google. If anything they're gonna coexist now instead of compete. Both of them also look like they're focusing less on mobile and more on new markets like wearables

Samsung can sell their own apps through their own store, but they'll have to figure out how to ditch Google Maps first. That's the leverage Google holds over them. For now...

BTW, I have yet to see anyone wearing these new wearables.

 

[daneoni]

ow...

Another American company sold to Chinese company...

Sad isn't it

 

[springsup]

Woah!

Did not see this one coming, although now that we know, it makes all of that talk about Google cosying up to Samsung make more sense (patent cross-license, talks to remove TouchWiz and use stock Android branding and emphasise Google apps rather than their own versions).

Strictly strategic move to obtain rights to the patents. Just because they didn't release a ton of new products doesn't mean it wasn't worth it. Everyone in the industry has to lawyer up.

Yeah, but this was a pretty expensive way to go about it.

 

[mentaluproar]

I wonder what this acquisition will do to project Aura.

 

[LastQuadrant]

This confirms it. The folks running Google are STUPID.

Hey, let's buy a company for $12Billion and then lose money for a couple of years and then sell it off for a HUGE loss. Go ahead Google, maybe you should buy MySpace for Billions and then sell it a couple of years later for millions...

What a concept. Apple's NEVER been THAT stupid.

 

[Oletros]

This confirms it. The folks running Google are STUPID.

Hey, let's buy a company for $12Billion and then lose money for a couple of years and then sell it off for a HUGE loss. Go ahead Google, maybe you should buy MySpace for Billions and then sell it a couple of years later for millions...

What a concept. Apple's NEVER been THAT stupid.

And exactly what huge loss is that sell off?

 

[John.B]

My line was copied from some article.

Anyone who understands basic business knows when you see the word "losses" there's no silver lining.

I was just critiquing the Wallstreetspeak. It wasn't directed at you, though it did come out that way. Mea culpa.

Though I will say, the year and a half is exactly what makes it perplexing. They didn't really even give it any time to grab hold and grow.....despite the low sales figures, the Moto X and G had been praised by reviewers. Perhaps a second generation would've garnered more consumer attention as Samsung cuts back on its marketing and spews more TouchWiz garbage.

Anyhow, I really like my Moto G. Guess I'll throw it up on the shelf with my other collectibles.

That's just it. If this was all about the patents and they never wanted the hardware to begin with, why not just buy the patents (or license them)? Did they really think FRAND patents were going to work as weapons in a patent war? Wouldn't their own patent lawyers have explained how this would eventually pan out?

At the end of the day, this is nothing more than Larry Page's Folly. I thought so when it was announced, and I still think so now. The shame is that an ill thought out deal by Larry Page (bankrolled with public shareholder money) will tank whatever is left of Motorola.

 

[Analog Kid]

I always thought this was an awkward arrangement. Google selling hardware has them competing with other Android OEMs, which I'm sure was causing tension in the ranks.

Buy high, sell low. Way to take care of the shareholder's money, Google!

This also goes to show that Google's only interest in Moto was that they thought they could weaponize standards essential patents. Once the various judges told them to buzz off, they finally gave up.

Total wasted shareholder money: $15 billion+ when you count the two years of covering Moto's losses, the failed lawsuits, and the discount they gave Lenovo.

If they kept some of the tastier patents, and licenses to the rest, and have managed to seed Google tech more firmly into the China market, this isn't quite as big a failure as keeping them would have been.

Motorola how far you have fallen. I hope you do better with Lenovo -- they seem to have done okay with the IBM PC unit, so maybe they can help you get un-scroogled.

I've taken to referring to Motorola as "Xeno Corp". If you take a company and divide it in half, and then half again, and then half again, will it ever disappear?

 

[daneoni]

And exactly what huge loss is that sell off?

$4-$6bn

 

[jrswizzle]

I was just critiquing the Wallstreetspeak. It wasn't directed at you, though it did come out that way. Mea culpa.







That's just it. If this was all about the patents and they never wanted the hardware to begin with, why not just buy the patents (or license them)? Did they really think FRAND patents were going to work as weapons in a patent war? Wouldn't their own patent lawyers have explained how this would eventually pan out?



At the end of the day, this is nothing more than Larry Page's Folly. I thought so when it was announced, and I still think so now. The shame is that an ill thought out deal by Larry Page (bankrolled with public shareholder money) will tank whatever is left of Motorola.

All the while their stock skyrockets.