A disclosure on the Hong Kong stock exchange revealed Thursday that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) may acquire a 5.94% stake in China’s Lenovo Group for $750 million. But if Google wants out of hardware business, how long with it keep that stake?
The filing was made just after Google announced that it had agreed to sell the Motorola brand to Lenovo for $2.91 billion in a cash and stock deal. Google will acquire 618.3 million Lenovo shares at $1.213 per share if Lenovo’s agreement to purchase Motorola goes through.
Google reportedly has wanted to sell Motorola for some time, because the handset brand has not lived up to its purchase price. However, it will keep most of the handset maker’s patents in the Lenovo deal. And it could hold on to the stake in Lenovo as a hedge, in the case the Lenovo smartphone business captures market share the way its PC business has done.
Buying Motorola does help Lenovo build out its cell phone business. Rumors suggested that it had made a bid for BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) back in October but was turned away. Lenovo may have found a way in to the business, but it has a long way to go to catch up to the top-tier players, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung Electronics. And investors are not impressed with the recent deal making. Lenovo shares in Hong Kong have been crushed since the New Year holiday.
Shares of Google were up fractionally in premarket trading Friday, at $1,164.00 in a 52-week range of $761.26 to $1,186.54.
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