Google sells Motorola
to China’s Lenovo
Find out what's happening in Highland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Less than two years after purchasing Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, Google now has sold the company to China’s Lenovo for $2.9 billion.
Find out what's happening in Highland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Google’s CEO Larry Page said Lenovo has what it takes to make Motorola a top competitor in the Android operating smartphone system. Meanwhile, in backing out of the smartphone business with only one percent of the market, Google will keep more than 2,000 Motorola Android patents, while providing licensing authorization to Lenovo.
Lenovo, now the world’s number one maker of personal computers, has been coming on strong lately. They recently purchased a server business from IBM, after buying IBM’s PC business back in 2005.
In announcing the sale on Jan. 29, Google’s Page told the press that Lenovo plans to retain all 3,500 Motorola handset employees during the transition and there are no immediate plans for major staff layoffs.
Dennis Woodside will replace Sanjay Jha as CEO of Motorola Mobility Holding.
Apple Computer still leads smartphone sales with its iPhone by 48 percent in the recent 4th quarter, followed by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics at 31 percent. Motorola held only five percent of the U. S. market.
