Google Flushed $12.4B Down The Toilet On Motorola?

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Did Google flush $12.4 billion down the toilet with Motorola? I'm not an expert or anything but it sure looks that way to me.

When Google said it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.4 billion, it was applauded as a bold move to shore up its patent position. A year and a half and several legal setbacks later, many are wondering when -- and if -- Google will ever see a payoff.
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Remember that they got 1800 patents, $3.5B in cash assets, sold the set-top box portion for $2.3B after taking all top talent and now have an in-house hardware manufacturing branch... makes sense to me. $6B for a big hardware company and 1800 patents is a pretty good deal.
 
BombermanX said:
Remember that they got 1800 patents, $3.5B in cash assets, sold the set-top box portion for $2.3B after taking all top talent and now have an in-house hardware manufacturing branch... makes sense to me. $6B for a big hardware company and 1800 patents is a pretty good deal.
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All their patents are pretty useless and those lawsuits could cost them money. Motorola's hardware hold is pretty limited. Seems like it was a waste so far but maybe it will change.
 
Way too soon to tell. Come back in 4 years of so and start throwing tomatoes then.
 
At least the EC sees that big bully Motorola is being all "abusively dominate" to poor little Apple. Damages are forthcoming. Up to a $410 million fine to the EU, not Apple, seems pretty fair because the EU is the real victim here.
 
pxc said:
At least the EC sees that big bully Motorola is being all "abusively dominate" to poor little Apple. Damages are forthcoming. Up to a $410 million fine to the EU, not Apple, seems pretty fair because the EU is the real victim here.
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You have to be pretty damn blindsided by Apple hate to not see Motorolla was almost criminal in how they were using their FRAND patents.
 
Cali3350 said:
You have to be pretty damn blindsided by Apple hate to not see Motorolla was almost criminal in how they were using their FRAND patents.
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Motorola was asking for an injunction of sales of Apple products in Germany, exactly what Apple has done to any number of competitors. Totally criminal. :rolleyes:
 
pxc said:
Motorola was asking for an injunction of sales of Apple products in Germany, exactly what Apple has done to any number of competitors. Totally criminal. :rolleyes:
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By completely going against what FRAND is supposed to mean and using them to extort.

As opposed to Apple, which is actually using patents (however badly awarded they may be). Apple may be the 'scummier' of the two of the kinds of things they try to patent and use as weapons, but Motorola pretty much outright abused FRAND outright.
 
Sounds like the author is holding a short position on Google.

Sucks to be him. It just passed Microsoft today.
 
anthrex said:
All their patents are pretty useless and those lawsuits could cost them money. Motorola's hardware hold is pretty limited. Seems like it was a waste so far but maybe it will change.
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Patents are a long term gamble in many ways. They can pay out in spades however if you sit on them for a while. I guess its more about long term investment versus currently pending lawsuits for Google in this circumstance.

Even if Google has wasted billions of dollars , I doubt they are really wasting time fretting over it at the moment.

If you don't move forward in their industry then you are already dead.
 
I am amazed at how shortsighted people are.

The MOTO deal was/is a good investment. (In a few years, it will have paid off in spades)

The patents are not great offensively since most are FRAND, but they can be used defensively as bargaining chips and to dissuade asinine patent lawsuits and as royalty generators. It also allows other OEM's like HTC to mitigate microsoft royalties and such.

The set top box division was sold for 2.3 bil (I was hoping for a huge push for GTV, but I am sure cable co's would likely not play ball. Imagine a 2TB google tv DVR with episode streaming via google play/google drive?)

Google also got some top hardware talent (I would assume some settop box talent is not working on Fiber and it's associated TV components) as well as a top tier handset manufacturer.

With the handset division, it also hedges Google's bet on android. Look at what NOOK and KINDLE did with android? They removed Google...Samsung is in a bully position if they wanted to do the same, but with MOTO able to crank out pure android, Google is in control, not at the mercy of a third party OEM.
Google can also use MOTO devices as a way to "force feed" new features and tech into Android.

When Google bought Moto, they inherited an 18-24 month product pipeline....we are approaching the end of that, so we truly haven't see the vision Google has for MOTO yet, and with Moto devices having great build quality, great radios and great features I am hopeful. Hell, all Google really has to do is "open up" moto devices (unlock bootloaders, remove bloat, and make pure AOSP) and they will have all the fanboys lining up for what is basically a "nexus" brand. Other OEMS will not like it, but if they see that is sells, they will hopefully ape it, and that would make android an even more dominant force with less fragmentation and more innovation.
 
If you shove a banana into your ear, it'll seem like everything is better, including the Motorola buyout.
 
gossipninja1 said:
I am amazed at how shortsighted people are.

The MOTO deal was/is a good investment. (In a few years, it will have paid off in spades)

When Google bought Moto, they inherited an 18-24 month product pipeline....we are approaching the end of that, so we truly haven't see the vision Google has for MOTO yet, and with Moto devices having great build quality, great radios and great features I am hopeful. Hell, all Google really has to do is "open up" moto devices (unlock bootloaders, remove bloat, and make pure AOSP) and they will have all the fanboys lining up for what is basically a "nexus" brand. Other OEMS will not like it, but if they see that is sells, they will hopefully ape it, and that would make android an even more dominant force with less fragmentation and more innovation.
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this ^
some people are so short sighted. omg you spent 12B and didn't flip it into 25B in a couple months like I saw Donald Trump do with this old mansion on HGTV! they r teh suq!
Give it time and they will change the game, this is a marathon not a sprint!
 
Like gossipninja1 said, Google inherited an 18 month backlog of products. Anybody that stays on top of Google and the smartphone industry knows that. Obviously the author of the article lives in his mom's basement. And until Samsung releases a GS4 Maxx with a super large battery I'd never consider a Samsung phone. Rome wasn't built in a day and Google's dream with Motorola Mobility won't be accomplished overnight.
 
Agreed. The author is annoying.
He didn't mention anything about the acquisition as a strategic move against all the other giant patent hoarders. This was already discussed in depth with tech and business online articles during the time of acquisition.
The author is only considering the current profit/loss column. Are sales lackluster? I think so, but having the patents might have potentially saved G000gs other litigation cases if they didn't own them. We don't know.
And instead, the author frames the article as a question to the readers. How about growing a pair and flat out tell us "Yes" or "No", especially when supposedly you're the reporting expert.
 
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