On January 29th, Google stunned the smartphone industry when it announced plans to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo — less than two years after completing its own buyout of the American handset maker. Lenovo is paying $2.91 billion in cash and stock for Motorola, and the Chinese manufacturer has high hopes; it expects to sell 100 million smartphones within a year of finalizing the acquisition. If successful, the purchase will give Lenovo an immediate stake in the US smartphone market.Google will keep the vast majority of patents it acquired in the original Motorola deal, and it's also bringing Motorola Mobility's Advanced Technology and Projects group onto the Android team. The announced acquisition must pass a number of regulatory hurdles before ownership of Motorola is officially transferred.
Motorola's American dream is over
Company will shut down US assembly plant by end of 2014
The Motorola gambit: what Google really got by selling an American icon
Mostly fails, but one potentially huge victory
Can Lenovo save Motorola?
$2.91 billion buys you a storied history and a challenging future
Google to keep Motorola's Advanced Technology group, including Project Ara modular phone
The best part of Motorola is moving to the Android team
Google sells Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion
Lenovo will use Motorola's name to enter the US smartphone market
