Motorola Stockholders "Overwhelmingly" Approve Merger with Google

Posted 11/18/2011 at 8:11am | by Paul Lilly

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Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. announced that its stockholders voted to approve Google's proposed $12.5 billion merger. The vote took place at a special meeting for stockholders, during which time an "overwhelming" 99 percent of the shares voting were in favor of welcoming their new overlord, which represented 74 percent of Motorola Mobility's total outstanding shares of common stock.

"We are pleased and gratified by the strong support we have received from our stockholders, with more than 99 percent of the voting shares voting in support of the transaction. We look forward to working with Google to realize the significant value this combination will bring to our stockholders and all the new opportunities it will provide our dedicated employees, customers, and partners," said Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility.

The deal is now expected to close in early 2012, however Motorola was quick to point out that the merger is still subject to various closing conditions that could delay or even prevent it from taking place.

Assuming the deal does eventually close, it will amount to a huge patent grab for Google as it continues to grow Android and fend out infringing lawsuits, both for itself and its hardware partners.