Google sells Motorola to China’s Lenovo

Motorola_logoChinese computer firm Lenovo has agreed a deal to buy Motorola from Google for $2.91 billion.

The search engine giant purchased the company in 2012 as part of a spending spree to acquire patents which could protect its Android operating system for mobile phones and tablets from litigation.

Since paying $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, Google has sold the set top box business and rationalised the mobile phone range but the unit has never been profitable for it.

In a blog post announcing the sale, CEO Larry Page said Google would retain “the vast majority of Motorola’s patents, which we will continue to use to defend the entire Android ecosystem.”

Lenovo, which in 2005 bought IBM’s ThinkPad brand, will gain all trademarks and brand IP as well as license to use those patents it does not acquire.

The deal gives it a quick route into the mobile phone and tablet market.

Page said the sale did not “signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts”

He added: “The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry. We’re excited by the opportunities to build amazing new products for users within these emerging ecosystems.”

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