Re:Boston Dynamics employees were frustrated by Google's pla...
by Zigurd on Sunday May 29, 2016 @03:10PM
(#11797760)
Google got out of owning Motorola at a $9.5 billion loss, modulo some real estate and the patents.
The Nortel patent portfolio sold for $4.5 billion, which was higher than Google was willing to pay.
Andy Rubin did not like what Samsung was doing with Android and wanted a captive OEM. This doubled Google's headcount, it changed Google's financial numbers materially, it cost a fuckton of money even at Google scale at a time when it was apparent that no phone OEMs were very profitable, and it was strategically incoherent.
Andy Rubin was exactly the right guy to make Android a success. But buying Motorola and intending to keep it as a captive OEM was a large mistake.
The Nortel patent portfolio sold for $4.5 billion, which was higher than Google was willing to pay.
Andy Rubin did not like what Samsung was doing with Android and wanted a captive OEM. This doubled Google's headcount, it changed Google's financial numbers materially, it cost a fuckton of money even at Google scale at a time when it was apparent that no phone OEMs were very profitable, and it was strategically incoherent.
Andy Rubin was exactly the right guy to make Android a success. But buying Motorola and intending to keep it as a captive OEM was a large mistake.