Motorola shareholders give overwhelming backing to Google deal

An overwhelming 99 per cent of shareholders in Motorola Mobility have voted to approve the proposed $12.5bn takeover by Google.

The deal, announced in August, will help Google protect Android against growing litigation being brought by companies such as Oracle and Microsoft.

Motorola Mobility chief executive Sanjay Jha welcomed the backing from shareholders, which sees each share being bought by Google for $40. He said that the company is looking forward to a new era as part of Google.

"We are pleased by the strong support we have received from our stockholders, with more than 99 per cent of the voting shares in support of the transaction," he said.

"We look forward to working with Google to realise the value this combination will bring and all the opportunities it will provide our employees, customers and partners."

Motorola added that, while it expects the merger to be completed by the end of 2011, delays in filing several regulatory notices mean that it is now likely to be the start of 2012.

Analysts had questioned whether the deal could upset other Android partners of Google, notably HTC and Samsung, but Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt recently said that Motorola will be run as a separate entity to avoid such conflicts.

Google gave Samsung the honour of launching the first device running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the Galaxy Nexus, in a move that appears calculated to keep its largest partner happy.