Google yet to seek China’s regulatory approval on Motorola deal
24 Aug 2011
China's Commerce Ministry yesterday said that Google has yet not sought China's regulatory approval on its proposed $12.5-billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings.
"The ministry has so far not received any application for an anti-monopoly review," Shen Danyang, a spokesman at China's Commerce Ministry, told Reuters in response to the Google-Motorola deal.
Reuters said that under Chinese laws, companies that have an annual turnover of 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) globally and 400 million yuan in China must seek Chinese anti trust approval for a proposed acquisition.
In its largest acquisition to date, internet giant Google last week agreed to buy cell phone maker and video technology provider Motorola Mobility, for $12.5 billion in cash. (See: Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion)
Although Motorola makes cell phones exclusively on Android operating system and is one of the largest manufacturers of set top boxes in the US, the deal is more about laying hands on Motorola's trove of more than 17,000 patents on phone technology.
Motorola Mobility, run by CEO Sanjay Jha, is one of the biggest makers of mobile handsets that run on Google's Android mobile operating system, including its smartphones and the Xoom tablet computer.
