Google’s plan to buy the Mobility arm of Motorola has been delayed.
The company had hoped the deal would be sorted by early January 2012, however the European Commission has revealed it halted proceedings last week and their review is on hold as further information is gathered.
It was back in August that Google offered £7.7billion ($12.5billion) for Motorola Mobility, the part of the business responsible for phones and tablets. Created in January 2011, Mobility has manufactured handsets like Defy, Defy+ and Atrix as well as the Xoom tablet device.
Before the deal was struck in the summer, Motorola was already a partner of Google’s and continues to be one. And Google has partnered with other phone manufacturers including HTC and Samsung as well as working with companies that use its Android OS – although the deal with Motorola Mobility will be Google’s first direct entry into the mobile phone market.
The European Commission had originally given 10 January as the deadline for reaching a decision on the Google-Motorola deal. It has now told the BBC it will reveal a new date “at a later point”.
Amelia Torres, spokeswoman for the competition commissioner said: “The deadline is suspended because the commission needs from Google certain documents that are essential to its evaluation of the transaction. Once the commission has all the necessary information, it will restart the clock and publish a new phase one deadline on the website.”
Apparently it’s not “uncommon” for delays like this one to occur during reviews. However, there are questions surrounding how the deal will change the way Google behaves, whether it will show favouritism to Motorola Mobility over the other phone manufacturers who also use Android software – although this would make little sense as these manufacturers, if alienated, would begin to adopt an alternative OS.
The reason for the delay is said to likely be the fact the deal gives Google access to 17,000+ of Motorola Mobility patents, which could “cause the European regulator to seek a longer review.”
Despite the fact the EU could, if it wanted to, put a stop to the deal permanently or demand changes be made, Google has said it is not concerned that the review is on hold currently.
A Google spokeswoman said: “We’re confident the commission will conclude that this acquisition is good for competition and we’ll be working closely and co-operatively with them as they continue their review.”
Watch this space for further updates on the Google-Motorola deal.
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