I don't recall any analysis of the Google/Motorola deal pointing to a rationalization like this. I do recall Motorola's CEO announcing on an earnings call that if Motorola didn't soon find market sucess with Android it would be willing to start suing other Android ODM partners with its patnet portfolio. Given how quickly Google cancelled all its other product lines, and even sold off the cable box and network equipment business, and then finally sold to Lenovo, it seems like it was always clear in retrospect that Google bought Motorola to peaceably unwind without causing a civil war to the whole platform ecosystem they were building. That being said, I think you did very accurately call out the parent comment's reasoning and exactly what's wrong with it in cases like this. When companies are at a deep, deep discount to their market-leading peers there's usually a reason.

This isn't a good comparison. Google specifically bought Motorolla to use their patent portfolio as a cudgel to keep all the other Android OEMs in line.

> Google specifically bought Motorolla to use their patent portfolio as a cudgel to keep all the other Android OEMs in line.

Not just Android OEMs but other tech giants - remember this was not long after the Nortel/Rockstar episode. The patent cold war was heating up with proxy battles and occasional direct skirmishes; Google found itself with a 'patent-gap'. Fortunately things are much saner now after a change of management at several belligerents.

I thought they sold Motorola because all the other OEM's were threatening mutiny, specifically Samsung was creating their own OS bec they were worried about being priced out of the market.