Lenovo acquires Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91bn

Chinese hardware maker Lenovo plans to acquire Google’s handset business Motorola Mobility for around $2.91bn. Lenovo said that the acquisition will give it a stronger presence in the North America and Latin America markets, as well as an entry route to the Western Europe market.

The $2.91bn figure comprises $1.41bn paid to Google upon the closing of the deal – $660m of it in cash and $750m in Lenovo ordinary shares. The remaining $1.5bn takes the form of a promissory note and will be paid to Google in three years time.

Google announced its acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn in August 2011, gaining regulatory approval in May 2012. However, the tech giant will maintain ownership “of the vast majority” of Motorola Mobility’s valuable patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures.

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Lenovo will be given a license to the patent portfolio and other intellectual property, and it will also receive over 2,000 patent assets and the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.

“The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones. We will immediately have the opportunity to become a strong global player in the fast-growing mobile space,” said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo.

Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC business in 2005 and Yang said he is confident of strengthening the Motorola brand, as the Chinese firm did with IBM’s Think brand.

Larry Page, Google CEO, added that Lenovo has the “expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem”.

“This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere,” he said.