What Happened To The Google-Motorola Deal?
There was a lot of hype when Google announced it was purchasing Motorola Mobility from the parent company and there were all sorts of words flying around including Googlerola and Gorolla (Gorilla?).
Now that all the hype has died down and all the regulatory permissions have been appropriated, some tough questions still linger much as no one is talking about them. Many said Google was buying Motorola Mobility for its patent stash and this was fairly accurate as the company had some 17,000 patents on the purchasing block.
This was seen as a strategic move by Google to protect its Android operating system from being cannibalized by patent trolls the moment it hit critical mas. This is all great but there still remains one tiny little detail that most seem to have overlooked. Motorola is a fully functional multinational company with over 25,000 employees working in 92 factories across over 90 countries.
Now, Google did not just buy the patents, it bought everything that comes with the company, including these employees. So what happens to these employees now that Google has its patents and Android is safe? Unlike the case of Nortel where the company was dismantled and the properties auctioned, MM is a different case altogether and the lack of focus and commitment on Google’s part is rather shocking.
Google is now stuck with a $12.5 billion toy that it does not quite know what to do with. Remember Google is an Internet company, it knows nothing about running factories and manufacturing so this leaves MM in a precarious position. In addition, with all the emphasis Google is laying on chasing down Facebook to the death, how can anyone realistically expect the company to concentrate on this huge responsibility it took on on a whim?
