Google completes Motorola acquisition, installs Dennis Woodside as CEO

Google has just announced it has completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The acquisition was first announced in August last year when Google announced it would buy Motorola’s mobile handset and set-top box making division for $12.5 billion. The deal was stuck as both companies awaited the approval of Chinese authorities, which came on May 19.
Motorola Mobility’s CEO Sanjay Jha, who first oversaw that company’s spin-off from Motorola and then the eventual acquisition by Google, will step down from his position. Long-time Googler and currently the President of Americas region for Google, Dennis Woodside, has been appointed as the new CEO.
Google got the go-ahead from China’s regulators by agreeing to a condition that it will keep Android open for at least five years and won’t favor Motorola over other partners. This would go a long way to convince Google’s tier one handset partners that Android can remain the first platform choice. Probably, recent news of Google not going for one but as many as five OEM partners for next Nexus devices was Google convincing regulators that it had no plans to favor Motorola when it came to providing early access to new Android updates.