China approves Google’s acquisition of Motorola, deal to close in a week

Google can finally close its deal to acquire Motorola. Chinese authorities have finally given the green light for the acquisition. Google had announced in August last year its intentions to acquire Motorola Mobility, the handset manufacturing division of Motorola for $12.5 billion.
European and US authorities had already approved the acquisition last year. However, Chinese authorities had indicated they need more time to study the deal. In August Google had claimed the deal was essentially to acquire Motorola’s over 17,000 patents that would help it to safeguard the interests of its Android partners and the ecosystem as a whole. At the moment, Android vendors are fighting a multi-prong war around patent infringements both from Apple and Microsoft.
Microsoft has already inked royalty deals with all the major Android smartphone vendors while Apple is battling multiple lawsuits with Samsung, HTC and others. Google and Motorola are expected to close the deal sometime next week.