By Stephen Schenck

Google first announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility all the way back in August of last year, and the time spent since has seen the company seeking out approval after approval in order to finalize the deal. That’s included everyone from Motorola stockholders, to the European Union, to the United States Department of Justice. Just over this past weekend, China’s Ministry of Commerce gave its nod to the purchase, marking the last obstacle on the road to see this become a done deal. As such, Google and Motorola have now announced that Google’s acquisition effort has closed, and the company’s Dennis Woodside is stepping into the shoes of outgoing Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha.

With Google paying $40 per share, the deal works out to being worth about $12.5 billion. Although Google has worked with smartphone manufacturers in the past for devices like the Nexus series of phones, this deal marks the company’s transition into becoming a hardware manufacturer in its own right.

While there was certainly concern from the smartphone industry that this deal would put other Android manufacturers at a decided disadvantage competitively, Google’s gone to some length to make assurances that it’s not going to be playing any favorites. It’s still very much a rumor, but the claim that we might be seeing a number of Nexus-series devices simultaneously released from multiple companies could be just such a gesture to reassure these manufacturers.

Source: Motorola
Via: BGR