Lenovo To Buy Motorola Mobility From Google For $2.91 Billion

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Google is selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. The acquisition by the Chinese phone manufacturer will give them a major presence in the U.S. market. Lenovo will buy Motorola from Google with a mix of cash and stocks.

The Internet search giant will retain the majority of Motorola’s patents, while approximately 2,000 patents will go to Lenovo. Google CEO Larry Page said:

“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.”

Google initially purchased Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.5 billion. Google later revealed that it was mainly interested in the company’s patent portfolio.

For the past several years Lenovo has been trying to make a name for itself within the U.S. market, and with the acquisition of Motorola we could see the Chinese phone manufacturer make a bigger impact on the North American market. In a statement, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said:

“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.”

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside said in a statement that the acquisition will help achieve rapid growth the company is looking for.

“As part of Lenovo, Motorola Mobility will have a rapid path to achieving our goal of reaching the next 100 million people with the mobile Internet. With the recent launches of Moto X and Moto G, we have tremendous momentum right now and Lenovo’s hardware expertise and global reach will only help to accelerate this.”

The news of Lenovo’s acquisition comes only days before Google reports its quarterly earnings.

[via Google]

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