The consensus view is that Google bought Motorola Mobility in late 2011 for its patent portfolio. The company spent $12.5 billion, Google's largest acquisition by far and a major bet by Larry Page. During the acquisition approval process Google said that it would treat Motorola the same way it treated any other Android OEM and keep the division at arms length, giving it no special access or Android favors. Yet, Motorola has continued to lose market share and revenues. Last week, Google said that its Motorola division lost $271 million and revenues declined from $1.51 billion in Q4 to $1.02 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Top News

In late 2010 Google offered as much as $5 billion to buy then private Groupon. At that time daily deals was an incredibly hot market segment and Groupon was the market leader; its business and global reach were surging. It would have been the most expensive acquisition ever for Google at the time. But the deal feel through and Groupon went public. I argued then that it would have been crazy for Google to pay that kind of money for Groupon. Since going public approximately a year after the failed Google acquisition attempt (November 2011) Groupon has seen almost 90 percent of its market [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Top News

What exactly is Google doing with BufferBox? On Friday we found out that Google had acquired one of its own Google Ventures investments; however the acquisition price for the Ontario-Canada based startup wasn't disclosed. It couldn't have been that much given that the company was at a relatively early stage and only operating in the Toronto area. BufferBox is essentially a competitor to Amazon Lockers, although the company claims that it had the idea before Amazon. That idea is to allow e-commerce buyers to ship to the larger equivalent of a PO box in various locations throughout a city [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Business Issues | Top News

Apple has been waging a proxy war with Google and Android through its global litigation with Samsung. Now the companies will be directly battling it out in a new action filed by Google subsidiary Motorola before the US International Trade Commission (ITC). Motorola filed and partly won a patent case before the ITC, prior to the Google acquisition. But this is the first case filed under Google ownership. The earlier Motorola ITC patent victory was based on a single claim related to wireless 3G standards. Motorola seeks an import ban on iPhones in that case. A final decision from the administ [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: International | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Legal: Antitrust | Legal: Patents | Top News

Before Google acquired Motorola Mobility the company was already struggling to compete with rivals, including LG, Samsung and especially Apple. Now in an effort to revive the fortunes (literally) of the Google division, Mountain View will lay off 4,000 people and simplify the unwieldy Motorola device line-up according to a story in the New York Times. Google will also close roughly 30 offices or "facilities" around the world. Most of the employee cuts will come from locations outside the US. The 4,000 employees represent 20 percent of Motorola Mobility's current workforce. Google expects [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Mobile Marketing | Top News

Google to marketers: we may be a bit, uh, behind in social, but come buy social programs through us anyway. That seems to be the gist of what the search giant is saying with its acquisition of Wildfire, a social media marketing platform that works primarily with Facebook, but also with Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Though Google didn't disclose a purchase price when announcing the acquisition, reports peg the value of the deal at around $250 million. The union makes a lot of sense for Google, which has historically not had a problem with purchasing companies that wor [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Internet Marketing Industry: Acquisitions | Marketing Tools: Social Media | Social Media Marketing: Advertising | Top News

After government approval from China, contingent upon Google's agreement to keep Android "free and open" for at least five years, Motorola Mobility is now part of Google. European and US approvals happened some time ago. The deal is worth $12.5 billion -- Google's largest acquisition by far -- and includes some 17,000 patents that Google can use to defend Android against litigation and threats of litigation from Apple, Microsoft and any others who might go after it. Some have questioned whether the value of those patents justified $12 billion. Yet Google also gains a hardware business that [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

Instagram sold for $1 billion! Slideshare is being purchased for $118 million! Facebook about to go public for $100 billion! Apple's on its way to being worth $1 trillion dollars! A tech bubble? Who cares. With valuations like these, we need a new way of measure the worth of a company. Allow me to introduce a new type of "gram," one used to value companies. I can't claim the credit here. Last week, I was talking with Google distinguished engineer Matt Cutts. Most known for his role as head of Google's web spam team, Cutts is also an investor himself, as well as a pretty witty observer of al [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Instagram | Features & Analysis | Google: Acquisitions | Infographics

Google has gotten Department of Justice (DOJ) approval to move forward with its planned acquisition of Admeld, the sell-side optimization firm that helps publishers maximize revenues from their display advertising inventory. Though Google hasn't disclosed how much the deal was worth, various news outlets valued it at $400MM when it was first announced in June. In a statement on the approval, the DOJ said it has concluded the deal won't harm competition in the sale of display advertising, especially given the developments in sell-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-side platforms (DSPs) in the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Display Advertising | Mobile Marketing