Google closes Motorola Mobility deal, names Woodside CEO

Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings has closed, with Google acquiring MMI for $40 per share in cash and appointing Dennis Woodside as CEO of Motorola Mobility. Woodside was previously president of Google’s Americas region. The company says the acquisition will enable it to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android, and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Sanjay Jha, who revived Motorola’s Mobile Devices business and led the company through this acquisition, has stepped down as CEO, although he will continue to work with Google to help ensure a smooth transition.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “I’m happy to announce the deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation. It’s a great time to be in the mobile business, and I’m confident that the team at Motorola will be creating the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come.

Page has known Woodside for nearly a decade and cited his ability at building teams and delivering on some of Google’s biggest bets.

“Dennis has always been a committed partner to our customers, and I know he will be an outstanding leader of Motorola,” he added. “He’s already off to a great start with some very strong new hires for the Motorola team.”

Woodside said his goal is to focus Motorola’s talent on fewer, bigger bets, and he has hired a small number of leaders who will immediately join Motorola’s executive team, including Regina Dugan (former director of DARPA), Mark Randall (former supply chain VP at Amazon and previously at Nokia), Vanessa Wittman (former CFO of Marsh & McLennan), Scott Sullivan (former head of HR at Visa and NVIDIA), and Gary Briggs (former Google VP of consumer marketing).

In addition to these new leaders, many members of Motorola Mobility’s team will continue in their current roles: Iqbal Arshad (Product Development), Marshall Brown (chief of staff), Fei Liu (Mass Market Products), Dan Moloney (Home), Scott Offer (General Counsel), Mark Shockley (Sales), Mahesh Veerina (Software & Enterprise), and Jim Wicks (Consumer Experience Design).