Google got a nice little Christmas bonus Wednesday with the $2.35 billion (UK£1.44 billion, AU$2.24 billion) sale of Motorola Home.
Arris Group, Inc., a U.S. telecom equipment manufacturer based in Georgia, picked up the division of Moto responsible for set-top box and system production.
The deal is a cash and stock transaction that will give Google approximately 15.7 percent ownership interest in Arris.
Pending regulator approval, Motorola's TV biz should be all Arris' during Q2 2013.
Hands clean
Google scooped up Motorola in May for $12.5 billion (UK£7.68 billion, AU$11.9 billion). The acquisition had more to do with Moto's trove of communications patents than anything else.
Since it acquired Motorola, Google has focused on building up its impotent phone business while looking for a way to jettison the set-top side of things, according to Reuters.
Motorola Home is profitable, Google noted, pumping out $3.4 billion (UK£2.09 billion, AU$3.25 billion) in revenue for the four quarters leading up to Sept. 30. Despite its profitability, Google's designs are clearly on Motorola's mobile device making capabilities and not what it can do for TV.
U.K.-based manufacturer Pace was in talks with Google to pick up Motorola Home.
According to TechCrunch, Google sweetened the pot by saying it would cap Arris' liability "to a very small number" if a lawsuit brought by TiVo against Motorola turns ugly.
TiVo is claiming billions in damages due to Motorola producing massive amounts of DVRs that infringe on patents owned by the digital video recording company.
Via Reuters
