Last month the company shocked the world by purchasing Motorola Mobility (MMI) for $12.5 billion, in an effort to secure thousands of patents to protect itself on the Android front.
The news today, with the release of the acquisition proxy is that Google was ultimately forced to pay $10 more per share to acquire the company than its initial bid of $30/share.
Motorola, advised by Qatalyst Partners, rejected the offer despite their not being any other bidders or even word of anyone interested. Eventually the two parties settled on $40 per share.
Qatalyst may be the reason behind the huge bump in asking price, as they have, on 3 occasions in the last 12 months, forced buyers to pay up for the company they want. In one such case, Dell and HP began a bidding war for 3Par that led to a 91 percent premium over the initial bid.
Overall, Google paid a 74 percent premium for the company and its patents and 33 percent more than its initial unsolicited bid.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Sep 2011 21:07
