The Verge - Google acquires Motorola Mobility: the full story

Does anyone know why Google bought Motorola?

2013-04-26T20:33:23Z

Why did Google spend $12.5 billion to purchase Motorola Mobility? It's been nearly two years since the deal was announced and close to a full year since it closed, and the questions keep piling up while the answers keep getting worse.

The biggest problem is that Motorola's patent portfolio doesn't appear to be worth anything close to what either company assumed: the judge in the Microsoft v. Motorola patent case ruled yesterday that Redmond owes a paltry $1.7 million in annual royalties for using Motorola's standards-related Wi-Fi and video-encoding patents in every Xbox 360 and Windows 7 PC sold, rather than the $4 billion Motorola had originally demanded.

To put that in perspective, it would take 3,235 years for Microsoft's royalties...

Judge rules that Motorola's patents aren't worth the $4 billion a year it demanded from Microsoft

2013-04-26T02:37:20Z

A judge presiding over a legal battle between Microsoft and Google-owned Motorola issued a ruling today that valued elements of Motorola's patent portfolio far below what the company felt they were worth — by a difference of over $3.9 billion a year.

The two companies have been locked in a legal battle over Microsoft's use of several Motorola patents that are part of the 802.11 Wi-Fi and H.264 video standards. As such, they're considered standards-essential patents, and must be licensed to other parties at a reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) rate. According to Redmond's attorneys, Motorola violated that pact by asking far too much to use the patents in question — its initial request was 2.25 percent of the price of each...

Google deal to sell Motorola set-top box division to Arris receives final regulatory approval

2013-04-12T16:05:37Z

Google's deal to sell off the Motorola Home cable box unit to the Arris Group has passed its final regulatory hurdle. The Department of Justice has given the acquisition its approval, and Arris expects the transaction will now close around April 17th. Last December, Google finally found a suitor for the cable box division that was included with its purchase of Motorola Mobility. The news came after months of rumors that the company was looking to sell off the set-top box unit and focus solely on the smartphone and cellphone business. The deal with Arris was for $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in stock, and it includes a provision to let Arris license Motorola Mobility patents.

Mystery Motorola phone leak could point to new Google influence

2013-03-13T05:58:39Z

Images and video of an unidentified Motorola handset have appeared on Tinh tế, and it looks quite unlike any of the recent Kevlar-coated phones from the Google-owned manufacturer. While there have been rumors that a flagship "X Phone" will come sometime this year, it doesn't look like this device is it — as per Google's comments about upcoming Motorola devices, the 720p AMOLED display is unlikely to make anyone say "wow" like we'd hope from a true collaboration.

Google's Motorola to lay off a further 10 percent of its workforce

2013-03-08T05:22:16Z

Following its acquisition by Google, Motorola Mobility announced sweeping layoffs last October with about 4,000 people — 20 percent of all employees — losing their jobs. It seems the restructuring didn't go far enough, however, as the Wall Street Journal reports that the unit will make a further cut of around 1,200 people, or over a tenth of the workforce, in the US, China, and India. A Motorola spokesperson said:

Google's CFO says Motorola's products aren't 'wow' by Google standards (update)

2013-02-28T18:01:36Z

If you were hoping to see a revelatory smartphone from Motorola in the near future, you might want to tone down those expectations. Google's Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Patrick Pichette today said that products in Motorola's pipeline are "not really to the standards that what Google would say is wow — innovative, transformative." The surprisingly honest admission came during Pichette's session at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference.

When questioned on where things stand with Motorola at the moment, Pichette didn't mince words. "We've inherited 18 months of pipeline that we actually have to drain right now, while we're actually building the next wave of innovation and product lines," he said. Google...

Motorola job listing confirms 'X-Phone' project in the works

2013-01-31T19:07:28Z

Late last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google and Motorola were working on a new phone and tablet with the code names "X Phone" and "X Tablet." These devices were said to be the first true collaboration between the companies since Google purchased Motorola Mobility earlier in the year, and allegedly focused on superior cameras and incorporated bendable screens and ceramic materials. Today, a job posting for a Senior Director of Product Management for Motorola on LinkedIn more or less confirmed that the company is working on something called an 'X-Phone.' The listing, now removed, detailed the duties of the position, which would oversee the launch of a new device and deal with carrier relationships when bringing it to...

Google points to future devices for still-unprofitable Motorola

2013-01-22T23:48:05Z

Motorola has been both a promise and a problem for Google since the $12 billion acquisition in May 2012. For the last three quarters, Motorola has delivered a modest boost to revenue (at Google scale) and a large drag on profits. This quarter, Motorola is a particularly thorny problem for Google's accountants.

In December, Google sold the Motorola Home division, makers of cable boxes, routers, and other non-mobile hardware, to Arris for $2.35 billion in cash and stock, laying off several thousand employees. This means Google had to issue two sets of revenue and profit numbers, one including Motorola Home, and one without.