After getting approval from various regulators, Google was seeking to get approval from China. Two days back, Chinese regulators approved the deal and demanded that Android stays free and open source for other manufacturers for the next 5 years. Now Google has finally completed it’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility for a record $12.5 billion.
The deal has been finally closed after the 9 months since the initial announcement. Now Google has access to over 17000 patents owned by Motorola Mobility and will come in handy in it’s patent wars against Microsoft and Apple.
Google’s CEO Larry Page also announced in a blog post,”I’m excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola’s StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. And as a company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google.”
Google has also announced that long-time Googler Dennis Woodside will replace Sanjay Jha as CEO. Dennis has hired his own team that will soon join Motorola’s executive team. This team includes some big names from popular companies which includes Regina Dugan (former Director of DARPA), Mark Randall (former supply chain VP at Amazon and previously at Nokia), Vanessa Wittman (former CFO of Marsh & McLennan), Scott Sullivan (former head of HR at Visa and NVIDIA), and Gary Briggs (former Google VP of Consumer Marketing).
