Google's proposed acquisition of Motorola earned a stamp of approval from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission back in February, and now the deal has gotten the final green light it needed before it could close. Today China approved Google's plans to buy Motorola, but the regulators did attach one stipulation to their approval, saying that Google must offer Android for free to anyone that wants it for the next five years. Now that the acquisition has been approved by China, it's expected that it'll be closed early next week.
This deal was originally announced way back in August 2011 and will see Google acquire Motorola Mobility for a cool $12.5 billion. Google has promised that, post-acquisition, it'll run Motorola as a separate business and that Android will remain open. Recently, we heard a rumor that Google may be planning to work with several manufacturers on a line of Nexus devices for release this year rather than selecting just one OEM like it's done in the past, a decision that's reportedly at least partially being made in an attempt to allay any concerns that companies may have about this Google-Motorola deal. It'll definitely be interesting to see watch how Google and Motorola operate once the deal is done, and with the acquisition expected to be completed next week, it looks like it won't be long before the Googlerola era kicks off.
Via Associated Press
