Lenovo continues shopping spree with Motorola

Acquisitive Chinese vendor snaps up phone maker from Google as it gets serious about the Smartphone space

Lenovo has bought Motorola Mobility off Google in a deal worth $2.91bn as it aims to grab market share off rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

The deal is the Chinese vendor’s second deal in the US after it grabbed IBM’s low-end server business for $2.3bn last week.

It includes the smartphone portfolio such as the Moto X, Moto G and Droid Ultra series, and Lenovo will take ownership of the future Motorola Mobility product roadmap.

It is a slight come down on the $12.5bn Google paid for Motorola in 2012, but the agreement is for Google to keep the majority of Motorola’s mobile patents which Lenovo will licence along with other intellectual property.

Lenovo will also receive over 2,000 patent assets, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman of Lenovo, said: "The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones.

"We are confident that we can bring together the best of both companies to deliver products customers will love and a strong, growing business. Lenovo has a proven track record of successfully embracing and strengthening great brands – as we did with IBM’s Think brand – and smoothly and efficiently integrating companies around-the-world. I am confident we will be successful with this process, and that our companies will not only maintain our current momentum in the market, but also build a strong foundation for the future.”

Larry Page, chief executive of Google, said the brand would be in safe hands.

“Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem. This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere."

Dennis Woodside, chief executive of Motorola Mobility, said: “As part of Lenovo, Motorola Mobility will have a rapid path to achieving our goal of reaching the next 100 million people with the mobile Internet. With the recent launches of Moto X and Moto G, we have tremendous momentum right now and Lenovo’s hardware expertise and global reach will only help to accelerate this."