Google has agreed to sell Motorola mobility division to China’s Lenovo for $2.91 billion in a mixture of cash and stock, Lenovo will pay Google $660 million in cash and $750 million in stock, while the remaining $1.5 billion will be paid out over three years.
The deal states that Google will still have ownership of vast majority of Motorola’s patents, while around 2,000 patents will go to Lenovo.
“Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement. “This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere.”
This acquisition puts Lenovo one step closer of entering the US smartphone market and soon to be the third-largest handset manufacturer in America. Motorola marks Lenovo’s second acquisition announcement this month: last week it said that it will buy IBM’s x86 server business.
“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,” Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said in a statement. “We will immediately have the opportunity to become a strong global player in the fast-growing mobile space.”
“We will become a much stronger number three smartphone company,” Yuanqing said, referencing Motorola’s position as the third-place Android smartphone manufacturer in the US. “Motorola brings a strong brand, brilliant engineering, great products, [and] outstanding relationships with retailers.”
The Lenovo-Motorola deal was announced on Motorola’s official Blog here.
