Lenovo acquires Motorola, becomes third largest smartphone maker

USA: Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google is complete now.  Lenovo has acquired Motorola for $2.91 billion. The acquisition of the Motorola brand and Motorola's portfolio of innovative smartphones, as well as the future Motorola product roadmap, positions Lenovo as the world’s third largest maker of smartphones.

Lenovo will operate Motorola as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Motorola’s headquarters will remain in Chicago. With the completion of the acquisition, Lenovo welcomes the addition of a new portfolio company with nearly 3,500 employees around the world – including about 2,800 in the U.S. – who design, engineer, sell and support Motorola’s outstanding devices.

Liu Jun, Lenovo executive vice president and president of Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group, is chairman of the Motorola Management Board. Rick Osterloh, a Motorola veteran, will remain president and chief operating officer of Motorola.

“With the complementary strengths of our two companies, we expect to sell more than 100 million mobile devices this year – including smartphones and tablets – by leveraging the Lenovo brand’s leading market position in China, our shared momentum in emerging markets, and Motorola’s strong foothold in mature markets like the U.S.,” said Liu Jun.

Motorola already has strong momentum in the marketplace led by highly successful new product launches and groundbreaking innovations, which have provided solid growth.  Beyond smartphones, the Moto 360 watch has captured consumer attention and established Motorola as a company expanding into emerging mobile device areas.  As previously stated, Lenovo expects to make the Motorola business profitable in four to six quarters.

Google will maintain ownership of a majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, while Motorola will receive a license to this rich portfolio of patents and other intellectual property.  Motorola will retain over 2,000 patent assets and a large number of patent cross-license agreements, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.