Broadband technology company Arris Group announced today that it has acquired Motorola Home from Google. Motorola Home is Motorola Mobility’s set-top box division, and Motorola Mobility was bought by Google back in May 2012 for $12.5 billion.
The transaction will net Google $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in newly issues Arris stock, which represents a 15.7.% ownership stake in Arris.
“This transformational combination of two complementary businesses will create a leading end-to-end provider of today’s video, data, and voice products and tomorrow’s next-generation IP-based broadband products,” said Bob Stanzione, chairman and CEO of Arris. “Ever-expanding consumer demand for bandwidth will continue to drive growth across cloud and network technologies we provide that enable innovative home entertainment products and services.
“Acquiring Motorola Home builds on Arris’ rich history, creating a global player with significant footprint, revenue, and cash flow. It also adds expertise in video and a larger presence in the home to our core strengths in voice and data, ensuring we are even better positioned to capitalize on and manage the evolution toward multi-screen home entertainment. We look forward to working with the Motorola Home team as we integrate their complementary product portfolio and engineering expertise to accelerate best-in-class end-to-end solutions to a broader customer base and increase value for shareholders,”
Google made no secret of it’s plans to sell off Motorola’s set-top box division, and has implied that Motorola Mobility’s acquisition was largely for the company’s patent portfolio. In August, Google announced 4,000 layoffs at Motorola Mobility and closed down the company’s Israel branch. Google then hired Barclays to shop around the Home division.