Google announced back in January that Lenovo would acquire its Motorola Mobillity subsidiary for US$2.91 billion. The deal has since been winding its way through the necessary regulatory requirements and closing conditions. Speaking at the Lenovo annual general meeting in Hong Kong, CEO Yang Yuanqing said that he expects both the Motorola acquisition and another for IBM’s low-end server business to be completed by the end of the year.
Both deals are still being reviewed by both U.S. and Chinese regulators. “Both deals are under the approval process in the two countries and they are progressing,” explained Yang. It appears though that one is moving ahead with less waves than another. The Wall Street Journal last week reported that the US$2.3 billion IBM deal had run into issues over national security concerns from the U.S. government. No such concerns were identified by either report about the Motorola deal though, suggesting that it is moving forward albeit slowly.
Motorola was recently rumoured to be looking to launch the Moto X+1 and Moto 360 smartwatch simultaneously on MotoMaker later this summer. If so, it will happen under Google’s watch rather than Lenovo’s.
If the Motorola acquisition only closes in late 2014 or even early 2015, it may be a while yet before we see the first Motorola devices designed under Lenovo’s watch.
Source : Reuters