Google Inc. sold its Motorola brand for $2.91 billion to the Chinese technology company Lenovo.
On its website, the Internet giant confirmed that it has sold its Motorola brand to Lenovo for a total of $2.91 billion. Of the whole price, $660 million was paid in cash and $1.5 billion will be paid in a form of a three-year long promissory note. The remaining $750 million will be in Lenovo ordinary shares.
The agreement is seen as an advantageous move for both companies. Google will be able to get rid of the business that dragged down its revenue, while Lenovo gets a shot at an established global brand, CNET reports.
Though its smartphone business is just mainly restricted to China, Lenovo still managed to sit on the fifth spot in the list of global smartphone vendors in the last quarter of 2013. Its share increased by .5 percent from a 4.2 percent a year ago to 4.7 percent.
"The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones," said Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing in a statement. "We are confident that we can bring together the best of both companies to deliver products customers will love and a strong, growing business."
According to the deal, Lenovo gets the Motorola brand and a portfolio of devices including Moto G and Moto X. The Beijing-based mobile phone manufacturer will also get over 2,000 patent assets. Google, on the other hand, will still be in control of a majority of the patent it really was after when it acquired Motorola in 2012.
Originally, Google's reason for buying the struggling Motorola brand was the collection of patents it would need to help defend the company and its allies against the tech giant Apple. However, after all of its efforts to revive the once famed Motorola, it continually showed no progress.
In the most recent report released by Google on Thursday, Motorola posted a profit loss of $248 million.
