ChinaVirtuoso

Lenovo and Google jointly announced that Lenovo formally completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google, and this now makes Lenovo the third largest smartphone maker in the world.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive officer of Lenovo Group, said that while enhancing the company position as the third largest smartphone maker in the world, Lenovo will challenge the top two competitors.

After the acquisition, Lenovo will operate Motorola as a wholly-owned subsidiary and the latter's headquarters will remain in Chicago. On the completion of the acquisition, Lenovo welcomes the addition of nearly 3,500 employees around the world, including about 2,800 in the U.S., who design, engineer, sell and support Motorola's devices, which are now considered "Chinese devices".

The total purchase price of the transaction is about USD2.91 billion, including approximately USD660 million in cash and 519,107,215 newly issued ordinary shares of Lenovo stock, with an aggregate value of USD750 million, representing about 4.7% of Lenovo's shares outstanding, which were transferred to Google at close. The remaining USD1.5 billion will be paid to Google in the form of a three-year promissory note. In addition, a separate cash compensation of about USD228 million was paid by Lenovo to Google primarily for the cash and working capital held by Motorola at the time of close.

Commenting on the acquisition, Yang said that they achieved a historic milestone for Lenovo and for Motorola. Lenovo has a clear strategy, great global scale, and proven operational excellence; while Motorola brings a strong presence in the U.S. and other mature markets, great carrier relationships, an iconic brand, a strong intellectual property portfolio and an incredibly talented team.

Google's chief executive officer Larry Page said that Motorola is in great hands with Lenovo, a company that is all-in on making great devices.

The transaction has satisfied all regulatory requirements and customary closing conditions, including clearance by competition authorities in the U.S., China, EU, Brazil and Mexico, and by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.


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