Google will buy Motorola Mobility, a spin-off from Motorola and Google's Android partner, for USD 12.5 billion, the two companies have announced. The announcement was published by Google founder Larry Page (in picture) on Google's blog.

Google will pay USD 40 per Motorola Mobility share, a 63 percent premium on the closing price of Motorola Mobility's shares last Friday.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, an Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

"Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies," said Larry Page, the Google CEO. Google launched the Android mobile system in 2007.

“In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we’re thrilled at the success they’ve achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and poised for explosive growth,” Page went on. .

The official announcement from Motorola here.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Google)