Google Selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 Billion

[gotluck]

Aww moto was looking so good. Moto x and moto g are awesome.

 

[Apple...]

They're not to bright, are they?

 

[aloshka]

The Moto G is definitely a good phone for the price. Not sure about the Moto X but some people seem to like it. It takes a long time to switch around a product line. Motorola only has a couple of months of Google phones out.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the way Google and Samsung seem to be becoming buddies.

I really like the MotoX phone. I was thinking of switching from iPhone to it.

 

[179202]

If anything Google was afraid of Samsung taking the platform they gave away for free and running away with it

Samsung doesn't have to do anything. They already dominate Android and for other OEM it's an uphill battle trying to create a brand. With Lenovo it'll be no different = its asset valuation and income is tiny compared to Samsung's.

Google would simply refuse to license Google Maps and their other apps to them. Well, after shedding Motorola it seems they now have their own premier smartphone maker.

 

[aloshka]

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.

Which is weird. It's one of the better Android phones, IMO. Or am I the only one who thinks that?

 

[179202]

I thought they had to put Tizen on the back burner because of this new deal with Google......

You were right on this btw. Just saw an article talking about it! Not sure if it's legally binding but they've agreed not to develop any of their own software.

 

[aloshka]

Lenovo is investing a lot to mobile devices lately, they aim to challenge Apple and Samsung in the mobile space. I own both Lenovo phone and tablet and I have to say that they have capabilities of making great devices for killer price.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2013-04/26/content_16452926.htm

I wonder if Lenovo will keep using Android or do try winomo

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I mean that might bring winmo to life

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You were right on this btw. Just saw an article talking about it! Not sure if it's legally binding but they've agreed not to develop any of their own software.

Cool, thanks. Reading about this, didn't know it existed.

 

[kdarling]

I mean Samsung already controls Android market share and the only major competitor is Apple/iOS.

What I find interesting is that, while Samsung dominates Android maker profits, I think they're less than half of Android sales by device count.

There's a lot of smaller outfits who are able to build smartphones these days because of Android, and sell them at a low but apparently sustainable profit. Some even have grown huge fan groups, and are becoming serious contenders. I think it's cool to have home grown companies like that.

 

[genovelle]

not really. they are unloading a loss. probably writing off the taxes, and they're keeping the patents. not much of a loss...stock should go up.

I guess I don't understand stocks. They buy a company for 12 billion less than two years ago, with the stock holders money. They lose money every quarter because they fail to manage the business. They try to use the patents against Apple and fail at every turn. They sell the company but keep most of the useless patents at a 10 billion loss and the stockholders are happy. Oh, and they just paid 3 billion for a thermostat company with two products. They are really excellent stuarts of the stockholders money. I can assure you that if this was Apple the stock would be down 20% overnight.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

when apple charges you a $100 for a larger capacity iphone its purpose is to make profit for its shareholders but when google sells of a division its supposed to have a more altruistic purpose?

and google does not invest in the USA, USA based suppliers and data centers?

and however the app ecosystem is split geographically how could that have anything to do with apple? angry birds comes from finland, quizup from iceland etc

Since when is capatialism a bad thing?

I never said Google didn't invest in US in similar ways. You concluded that from my statement all on your own.

I never said Apple's app ecosystem wasn't global, but you do have to concede the ecosystem generates percentage of jobs in the US, without which would not exist to the same extent.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Anybody have access to the WSJ website? Lenovo expects the deal to give it a shortcut into the US market and expects to sell 100 million handsets in the year after it completes the deal.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...02129071932.html?mod=WSJ_qtoverview_wsjlatest

 

[RoyalElephant]

Google, the company driving Android forward bought a company that makes android phones, yet didn't ever use them for the nexus line of phones.

What's next? Will Microsoft be selling Nokia to Dell in a couple years?

I always knew Google only acquired Motorola mobility for the patents in the first place, i'm sure we all knew but I always thought they'd eventually use them for something else. Nope.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Something to consider:

The driving force behind Motorola splitting up and selling off business units like Motorola Mobility was...

Carl Icahn.

And as Carl continues to trumpet Apple should buy back more shares, Carl's share position becomes stronger, which he can then force the BoD to give him a seat. That's why Apple doesn't want to accelerate stock repurchase. They don't want that SoB on the BoD.

 

[Gasu E.]

That said, Google is oddly up after market on the news, despite the essential admission that it overpaid for Motorola Mobility.

Why would admitting an actual mistake, and doing something about it, cause anything but a stock rise?

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Google stock is up 2.63% in aftermarket trading. Never try to apply logic to the stock market.

It's completely logical. You just underestimate the way the stock market processes information. The suckiness of the investment was already priced into Google stock. The market is just reacting to Google getting rid of said sucky investment at a reasonable price.

 

[Terrin]

Built in the US

Motorola was building the Moto X and other phones in the US. Even though I am an Apple guy, that was pretty exciting. I wonder if manufacturing will move to the China.

 

[aloshka]

Motorola was building the Moto X and other phones in the US. Even though I am an Apple guy, that was pretty exciting. I wonder if manufacturing will move to the China.

Please don't yell at me or troll (not specifically you, just anyone here). Where are Nokia phones built? I'm assuming Japan, but not sure.

 

[jrswizzle]

What I find interesting is that, while Samsung dominates Android maker profits, I think they're less than half of Android sales by device count.

There's a lot of smaller outfits who are able to build smartphones these days because of Android, and sell them at a low but apparently sustainable profit. Some even have grown huge fan groups, and are becoming serious contenders. I think it's cool to have home grown companies like that.

Ya Samsung owns 32% of global smartphone market share.

Take out Apple's 15% and you're looking at 53% left to other Android OEMs, WP, BB and others.

I'd venture to say the other Android OEMs make up at least 32% of that 53%.

 

[cdmoore74]

You armchair analyst kill me. Yes it sucks that an American tech company was sold to a Chinese company and that's coming from someone with a degree in the field. To me Apple is doing the same thing by keeping jobs in China. I now work in the healthcare industry because I seen the writing on the wall years ago. If I'm a betting man I would say humanoid robots will the fad (Google's latest purchase was related to robots) once I retire 30 years from now.
But anyway Google never used Motorola directly against other Android OEM's. Heck, everyone in Android-land wanted a Motorola based Nexus device or for Google to have more influence in the company. But they went with Asus to make the last 2 Nexus devices. Motorola's only popular device was the original Droid back in 2009. Everything else after that never lived up to the same hype. Even last years Motorola X did not initially impress everyone given the asking price.
As a Android user I think the move was good but I'm no rocket scientist. Google should not be directly involved in the hardware game. Keep working on Android and let other Android OEM's develop GPE (Google Play Edition) devices with stock firmware. This move could actually strengthen Motorola as a company but if I was an employee I would be sweating right now.

 

[GregAndonian]

although Samsung took a hit last quarter. With the news they'll be scaling back their marketing efforts, I wonder if 2014 is the year we see another OEM step up to play with Apple and Samsung.

I thought about this too the other day. I hope it does happen- I really like my Note 3 but always hearing about Samsung as the only alternative to Apple is getting a little old. It would be nice to see some other phone makers get some attention, to keep things interesting.

This might even be the year Windows Phone starts to become more mainstream, if Samsung does pull back. The 8.1 update coming in April sounds like a significant improvement.

 

[demodave]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Google is selling its Motorola Mobility division to Lenovo for $2.91 billion, according to a report from China Daily. Google acquired the company and its then 17,000-strong patent portfolio, along with 7,500 filed patents, in August of 2011 for roughly $12.5 billion.

At the time, Google said Motorola was a "natural fit" for the two companies and that it would "supercharge the entire Android ecosystem". The deal is said to include 10,000 of Motorola Mobility's patents, although it is likely that Google will retain licenses for those patents.

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Google's Motorola Mobility subsidiary has been a money loser for the company in recent quarters, costing the firm $248 million in the most recent quarter. Earlier this month, Google purchased the Tony Fadell-founded Nest for $3.2 billion in cash.

Update: Google has confirmed the acquisition in a blog post, saying "Motorola will be better served by Lenovo". The deal will need to be approved by both the U.S. and Chinese governments.


Article Link: Google Selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 Billion

OMG. Epic fail.

Those patents could have been put to good use right here in America, but now, thanks to Google, they are getting shipped to Asia.

 

[iZac]

Google's too busy building a robot army to play with mobile phones ...

 

[Liquorpuki]

Google would simply refuse to license Google Maps and their other apps to them. Well, after shedding Motorola it seems they now have their own premier smartphone maker.

If Google did that, they'd willingly cut off their revenue stream for something like 60% of Android devices. They need to make money too

 

[brinary001]

Motorola is a very innovative company and has been for years. But now they're just being tossed around like a drunk girl at a college frat party. You're better than that, Moto!

 

[R0bert]

Google only paid about $1.56B for the patents.

See this comment by Nicolas Charbonnier

Moto total cost $12.5B to Goog in 2011:
- $3.2B Moto's 2011 cash
- $2.4B Moto's 2011 deferred tax assets
- $2.35B Moto's Set-top-box business sold in 2012
- $75M Moto's factories business sold in 2013 (incl 7K factory employees)
- $2.91B Moto's Mobility business sold in 2014

Thus Moto's remaining assets including patents, buildings (in Chicago and elsewhere), probably a good part of the 12K employees cost Goog $1.56B

 

[luv2seaters]

Buy HIGH sell low

They way over paid for Motorola.Thy haven't made money in years.Google is way too loose with their cash.They purchased Nest.They have 2 products and Google paid 3 BILLION.
If you have so much money to burn google.I need 3k to get my car fixed from a car accident.