Google had previously sold Motorola's Home division for $2.4 billion.
Combine that with yesterday's $2.91 billion sale of Motorola's
remaining assets, subtract the $12.5 billion acquisition price for the
company back in 2011, and Google's little smartphone adventure cost it roughly $7.1 billion
even before you start throwing in expenses related to actual
production, marketing, and personnel. That's a hefty chunk of change,
but some analysts think the deal was ultimately a good one because it
allowed Google to pick up patents, engineering talent, and insight into
the mobile-device marketplace. It's debatable, however, whether those
patents ultimately helped Android in the still-raging smartphone wars,
and Google was slow to promote Motorola smartphones out of fear of
irritating other Android manufacturers. At least Google can console
itself with the thought that so many of its other acquisitions—including
YouTube and DoubleClick—resulted in massive profits; but you can't hit a
home run every time you step up to bat.
