Google Selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 Billion

Google is selling its Motorola Mobility division to Lenovo for $2.91 billion, according to a report from China Daily. Google acquired the company and its then 17,000-strong patent portfolio, along with 7,500 filed patents, in August of 2011 for roughly $12.5 billion.

At the time, Google said Motorola was a "natural fit" for the two companies and that it would "supercharge the entire Android ecosystem". The deal is said to include 10,000 of Motorola Mobility's patents, although it is likely that Google will retain licenses for those patents.

google motorola

Lenovo Group Ltd is likely to buy Google Inc’s Motorola Mobility business, giving the Chinese company a bigger say in the global tablet and smartphone market.

The acquisition, worth at least $2 billion, will include more than 10,000 mobile communications patents currently held by the United States company, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The deal is expected to be announced on Thursday morning in Beijing.

Google's Motorola Mobility subsidiary has been a money loser for the company in recent quarters, costing the firm $248 million in the most recent quarter. Earlier this month, Google purchased the Tony Fadell-founded Nest for $3.2 billion in cash.

Update: Google has confirmed the acquisition in a blog post, saying "Motorola will be better served by Lenovo". The deal will need to be approved by both the U.S. and Chinese governments.

This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere. As a side note, this does not signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts. 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.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...

Top Rated Comments

proline Avatar
155 months ago
Buy high, sell low. Way to take care of the shareholder's money, Google!

This also goes to show that Google's only interest in Moto was that they thought they could weaponize standards essential patents. Once the various judges told them to buzz off, they finally gave up.

Total wasted shareholder money: $15 billion+ when you count the two years of covering Moto's losses, the failed lawsuits, and the discount they gave Lenovo.
Score: 77 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daneoni Avatar
155 months ago
Oh dear...



So Lenovo is now in the Enterprise, Consumer and Mobile space.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sky Blue Avatar
155 months ago
can they sell Nest to someone else?
Score: 50 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Solomani Avatar
155 months ago
Oops. It's not a natural fit any more. It was a money-losing acquisition for Google.

And all the slow-thinkers still wonder why Apple does not rush to acquire smaller companies. :rolleyes:
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GfPQqmcRKUvP Avatar
155 months ago
Massive acquisitions rarely work out for the buyer and yet this is what tons of uninformed people on this site want Apple to do with its spare money it isn't using rather than give it back to the stockholders via an enlarged dividend or buyback.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jrswizzle Avatar
155 months ago
And this is why Apple shouldn't be tempted to use its cash pile for a big acquisition.

That said, Google is oddly up after market on the news, despite the essential admission that it overpaid for Motorola Mobility.

Lol so Apple sells 52 million iPhones (more than any quarter in their history), pockets $13 billion and their stock plummets.

Meanwhile, Google says "oops, we wasted $12.5B on Moto - here Lenovo takes this off our hands for a $9.5B loss" and their stock is up.

What....that....what?

----------

Sam - Sung.

HTC has also produced some critically acclaimed phones but they're still getting swallowed up by iterations of the Galaxy.

Its a shame too - although Samsung took a hit last quarter. With the news they'll be scaling back their marketing efforts, I wonder if 2014 is the year we see another OEM step up to play with Apple and Samsung.

Maybe someone else will break double digits?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)