Google is Now Almost the Proud Owner of Motorola After EU/U.S. Approval

From DailyTech: Despite being under antitrust scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe, regulators saw no reason to block Google Inc.'s (GOOG) purchase of phonemaker Motorola Mobility (often referred to as simply "Motorola", but not to be confused with Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI) an equipment company). They gave the deal their approval on Monday, according to press releases by the EU Competition Commission [press release] and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) [press release]. The approval ended weeks of uncertainty surrounding Google and Motorola's fate.

The deal now only awaits approval in China, Taiwan, and Israel before Google can officially be called the proud new owner of Motorola.

As a phonemaker, Motorola has had some decent successes with its Android smartphones -- such as the Droid RAZR -- but has seen its mobile market share evaporate. It went from vying with Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KS:005930) and Nokia Oyj. (HEL:NOK1V) in global sales, to falling to the bottom of the top 10 global phonemakers. In 2011, Motorola was in a virtual tie for seventh place in global sales with the likes of HTC Corp. (TPE:2498), Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corp. (SHE:000063), and Research in Motion, Ltd. (TSE:RIM) all of whom have between 3 and 5 percent global market share [source].

It might have been Motorola's incredible shrinking sales that swayed EU and U.S. regulators that the deal would not harm competition. The EU concluded that it would be counterproductive for Google to try to make Motorola the favored or exclusive Android phonemaker, given its small market share.

They write, "Google's core business model is to push its online and mobile services and software to the widest possible audience, it is unlikely that Google would restrict the use of Android solely to Motorola, a minor player in the European Economic Area (EEA)."

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