As of today, Motorola mobile belongs to Google and Google has cashed out $40.00 per share in cash, total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. This kind of overpricing still sounds better than 8.5 billion what Microsoft spent to acquire Skype.
Apple will get some decent competition and despite the fact that Google claims that Motorola Mobility will remain a separate company, you cannot shake the thought that new Motorola mobiles will have a huge advantage over anyone else.
Of course, many vendors got scared, and it was funny and sad at the same time to read the official comments. You can read them below but you can imagine even from these few lines, how “thrilled” everyone is.
“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”
– J.K. Shin
President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division
“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Bert Nordberg
President & CEO, Sony Ericsson
“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”
– Peter Chou
CEO, HTC Corp.
“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D
President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
You have to have in mind that Motorola produced some very memorable members of the tech society, including Hector Ruiz and the equally successful Motorola Xoom. Google can do quite ok with this wireless business and in we got things right, Google will start looking in wireless provides to complete the dominance. Of course, despite a string of largely unsuccesful products in recent years, Motorola still has quite a few valuable patents and know-how. This is what Google might be after in the long run.
Umbrella and Skynet are much closer than you can imagine.
You can get a few more details at the official press release here.