Google to Close the Motorola Deal

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility will finally close by Wednesday. Motorola Mobility announced in a Form-8K filed yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that now that the Bureau of the Ministry of the Commerce of China has cleared Google's acquisition, the companies will finalize the transaction "within two business days." China announced on Saturday that it had approved the acquisition, making it the last major regulator to give the deal the green light. Both the U.S. Justice Department and European Union regulators approved the acquisition in February.

Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility in August for $12.5 billion, representing a 63 percent premium on Motorola's stock price. Although regulators approved the deal relatively quickly, many were concerned that Google could hurt competition in the marketplace because it would be acquiring one of the top Android users. In response, just about every prominent Google executive attempted to allay those fears. David Drummond, the search company's chief legal officer, led the charge, saying that the acquisition would still leave Google "in a very good position to protect the Android ecosystem for all of our partners."