Google closes acquisition of Motorola Mobility; Moto's ultimate fate remains ... - Washington Post

Completing a nine-month journey through regulatory approvals on multiple continents, Google has closed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility today. The move comes just days after Google cleared the last major hurdle — approval in China, where Motorola has had a particularly strong presence for many years — and means that the Chicago-area phone maker will stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange effective immediately.

As reported in February, CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and will be replaced by Google's Dennis Woodside. "One of his first jobs at Google was to put on his backpack and build our businesses across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia," Google chief Larry Page notes, though he's most recently been in charge of growing revenue as president of the company's Americas region. Woodside is bringing a bunch of outsiders into the business as part of the leadership transition: Regina Dugan, former DARPA director, Mark Randall of Amazon and Nokia, Google's former VP of consumer marketing Gary Briggs, and Scott Sullivan — with stints at Visa and Nvidia under his belt — are all joining the business.