-By Oriade Ayomide
Barely two years after buying the Motorola brand, technology giant, Google has announced that the company is set to sell its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to Chinese computer firm Lenovo in a $2.9bn (£1.75bn) deal. Google has however maintained that it would keep most of Motorola’s patent.
Google bought Motorola in 2012 for $12.5bn (£7.54bn) as a way of boosting its Android operating system.It has since slashed its workforce from 20,000 to less than 4,000 and racked up losses of nearly $2bn (£1.2bn).
Speaking on the deal with Levono, Chief Executive of Google, Larry Page described the deal as an “important move for Android users”.
He said: “The smartphone market is super competitive and to thrive it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices. We believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo, which has a rapidly growing smartphone business and is the largest and fastest-growing PC manufacturer in the world.This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere.”
Under Google, Motorola launched a number of value smartphones, including the Moto G and the Moto X.It also makes baby monitors, corded and cordless phones and fitness accessories.
