Google has surprised the industry and sold its Motorola Mobility subsidiary just two years after it surprised the industry by buying it.
They've sold it to Chinese computer and smartphone manufacturer, Lenovo for just US$2.9 billion -- a sharp decline on the US$12.5 billion that Google paid originally. Google isn't even getting all the money at once, and only a small portion of it is in cash, with the rest in shares.
Lenovo is paying just US$660 million in cash up front and US$750 million in shares. The remaining US$1.5 billion is being deferred for three years.
Although Google will retain the bulk of the patents, there has long been some doubt as to the real value of those patents in the ongoing smartphone patent war.
Lenovo has been known to be looking to sharply increase its smartphone division through an acquisition, ever since it confirmed that it was talking to someone last June. However, until recently the hottest rumour had been that it was eying BlackBerry as the target, although that company is temporarily off the market at the moment.
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