Google said it would pay $40 a share in cash for Motorola, a 63 percent premium to the company's closing price on Friday. The company will be mildly add to earnings once the deal closes, which is expected by the end of this year or early 2012.
The deal shakes up the Android world. For the first time, Google will have a direct hand in the mobile business that it has fostered from a distance. While it provides the Android software critical to running millions of smartphones and tablets, it has yet to get into the design and manufacturing business itself, aside from a few experimental models with handset partners such as HTC and Samsung Electronics. cnet.com