The $12.4 billion Google paid for Motorola Mobility in August 2011 included a $2.6 billion payment of goodwill, for the company’s value above and beyond its assets. The figures emerged as the search giant filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlining how it valued the deal.
Motorola’s patents, considered by many to be the main reason for the purchase, were valued at $5.5 billion, the largest percentage of the deal. The patents will, no doubt, be invaluable to Google in its on-going courtroom battles against Apple and others around the Android operating system, but they represent less than half the value of the deal.
Google says that $2.9 billion of the purchase price accounted for Motorola’s cash, while $730 million went to customer relationships and $670 million to other net assets.
For the first time last week, Google included Motorola’s performance in its quarterly results. The company said that Motorola contributed $1.25 billion in revenue, but the mobile firm reported a $233 million operating loss.
Google has given little away about its plans for the firm’s largest purchase to date but Motorola Mobility is expected to remain independent. “Clearly, everybody should expect some changes at Motorola,” was all Google CFO Patrick Pachette said on last week’s earnings call.
