China Approves Google Motorola Mobility Merger

symbolset writes "CNET is reporting that China has approved Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Previously approved by regulatory authorities in the U.S. and Europe, China was the last holdout. The deal will now reportedly close 'within days.'" I wonder what conditions Google may have faced from the regulators, and whether they include any exceptions to the "don't be evil" guideline.

The article was updated

[Anonymous Coward]

From the update to the article, it is stated that Google must keep android free and open for at least the next 5 years.

Not a bad condition if you ask me.

Lets hope they ban all IPhones and Nokias

[Anonymous Coward]

Then a complete deadlock of every smartphone. Then finally politicians who own these phones can reform the patent system and see how absurd it is! ... at least I can hope since MS is banning all HTC andriod phones from the US.

Yes, China Is Not Evil

[symbolset]

China is trying to join the present age gracefully without a painful civil war or excessive domestic violence. That's a difficult course, and I wish them all the luck in the world in that goal. I'm not a big fan of how they're managing the transition shock - they're certainly not doing it how I would do it. But I'm not looking at it from the party's point of view and they know their people better than I do. They have no successful historical guide for how this is done peacefully, because it's never been done peacefully in the history of Man. In this transition always before there has always been a great deal of blood spilled.

I'm sure to get some haters over this one. I don't hate the China government, and especially not their people - and I think most people in the world feel this way. They have a different view and diverse views are valuable. I think China's government is also regretful of the measures they feel they must impose to moderate the migration to the modern world - but that a reckless unrestrained adoption of openness might drive their people to anarchy. So they must loosen the ties that bind gradually so that their people can explore freedom without being harmed too much by it.

That doesn't excuse any of the most egregious violations of human rights we've heard of lately by any means. China is a different country, and at over a billion souls more diverse in operations than any we know. Of course there are going to be odd corners where bad things happen outside the general scheme, as there are at Guantanamo. The greater goal doesn't make these things right to do, and diminishes the effort overall - but there are always outlier individuals who implement beyond their remit thinking their actions serve the greater goal when they don't.

I believe that the average Chinese citizen wants what I want: to provide for himself and his family. And I believe that the Chinese government wants what my government wants: to preserve their citizens' standard of living, to protect their borders, to move progress forward. We are all the same in this regard.

Whether our governments reconcile or not, I hope our citizens can embrace each other in brotherhood, recognizing that we all suffer from the human condition - including being led by fools.

Re:don't be evil

[symbolset]

This wasn't Larry Page and Sergey Brin's idea. The bankers who backed the IPO insisted on a babysitter with experience in running a multinational corporation, and they got one. That it cost so much wasn't because they offered it but because he had the wisdom to insist on stock options rather than straight pay. He might have got nothing at all if Google had tanked right after. He was also smart enough to let them do their thing. Instead of tanking Google shares flew to the moon, and he became wealthy beyond the dreams of Midas - though he was beyond worring about paying the rent even beforehand.

Re:don't be evil

[symbolset]

Google printed options of no value, and the market made them into $10 B on its own. But Google didn't pay. That money didn't come out of Google's revenues.