Motorola Mobility is now officially part of Google. CEO Larry Page announced Tuesday the search giant had closed the deal to acquire the cellphone manufacturer, also revealing that Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha would be stepping down.
In the blog post, Page said the new CEO is “longtime Googler” Dennis Woodside. Page says Woodside, an ironman triathlete, is largely responsible for building Google’s presence overseas, especially in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia. He has served as Google’s president of the of the Americas for the past three years and played a role in increasing Google’s revenue from $10.8 billion to $17.5 billion over that period.
After Google announced its bid to acquire Motorola Mobility last August, the deal was met with surprise and some confusion, since Google had previously been content to be the steward of the Android mobile platform but to keep out of the hardware business. The acquisition made more sense as an purchase of Motorola’s extensive intellectual property, including some patents fundamental to how Internet communication works. Google, as a relatively young company, had a far weaker IP portfolio.
How Motorola’s hardware business will be integrated into Google’s operations is still an unanswered question, but there have been rumors that Google is planning to begin selling more Android devices directly to consumers (as opposed to selling them all through carrier partners). However, to avoid showing favoritism, Google is said to be planning to partner with several device manufacturers.
Motorola announced it would split into two companies in 2008, creating Motorola Mobility, a mobile communications company focused on consumers, and Motorola Solutions, a telecommunications equipment provider. That plan went into effect in January 2011, about eight months before Google announced the deal to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
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