Google’s promise to keep Motorola Mobility at arms length following final approval of a proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of the Chicago-based OEM could prove empty, according to a Bloomberg report released late yesterday.
Google will install Dennis Woodside, current senior vice president of Google Americas, as president and CEO of Motorola Mobility, according to the Bloomberg report, which cites “three people familiar with the matter.”
Woodside has been at Google since March 2009. Prior to joining Google, he served as an associate partner at McKinsey and Co.
Such a move would leave longtime Motorola Mobility President and CEO Sanjay Jha out in the cold. Jha orchestrated the post-Razr turnaround of Motorola’s handset division, centering that recovery around Google’s Android mobile platform to create the company’s well-known Droid franchise.
Google has yet to receive the final go-ahead from China on its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which has already been approved by regulators in both Europe and the United States.
Filed Under: Industry regulations + certifications