Google Secured Final Approvals for Motorola Takeover Bid

Published on: 20th May 2012

Google says that it has secured the last of the major approvals needed for its US$12.5 bid to buy Motorola Mobility.

Following US and European regulatory approval, the takeover bid was being held up by Chinese authorities, who have now given a conditional approval for the plans.

A main condition of the takeover approval is that the Google backed AndroidOS will have to remain a free and open sourced based software for at least five years after the deal is completed.

"We are pleased that the deal has received approval in all jurisdictions and we expect to close early next week," Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson said.

There have been concerns that Google may seek to restrict access to some aspects of the Android OS in order to favour Motorola handsets over rival manufacturers, although Google has always denied this.

Although Android is driven by Google, and based on a company that Google purchased in 2005, it is officially developed by the Open Handset Alliance, of which Google is a member.

The deal also gives Google access to Motorola's portfolio of some 17,000 patents and a further 6,800 pending patents -- which may be an asset in the ongoing tit-for-tat patent wars between handset manufacturers.

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