M.G. Slieger wrote, regarding the horrific “deal” Google got in buying Motorola:
Google bought the Titanic. And they bought it when it was already underwater. – @parislemon
This is cute (and true), not the right analogy because it makes people think Google bought Motorola for Motorola’s business. They did not.
Google paid $12.5B to become a patent-superpower like Apple and Microsoft. They had failed in getting the Nortel patents (or were thwarted, depending on your perspective) and panicked.
They are now dealing with the fallout of that impetuous decision.
Yes, Google bought the Titantic. And, yes, it was already underwater when they did so.
I suspect they now view that $12.5B as a sunk cost. Pun intended.
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Yes and no. If they get to the point where they can’t credibly conclude that Motorola is worth > or = to what they paid, they will will be forced to take a write down, as MS was for aQuantive.