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China: Google yet to ask for permission over Moto deal

Google has not yet asked for Chinese regulatory approval for its takeover of Motorola Mobility, the Chinese government has said.The search giant announced the $12.
Written by David Meyer, Contributor

Google has not yet asked for Chinese regulatory approval for its takeover of Motorola Mobility, the Chinese government has said.

The search giant announced the $12.5bn (£7.6bn) deal on 15 August, saying it was subject to regulatory approval in the US, the EU and elsewhere. However, a representative of China's Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that no such application had made its way to that country.

"The ministry has so far not received any application for an anti-monopoly review," spokesman Shen Danyang said, according to Reuters.

Reuters notes that enterprises that run businesses in China with annual revenues of 400 million yuan (£38m), and global annual revenues above 10 billion yuan, have to get permission from the Chinese government in order to make acquisitions.

ZDNet UK has asked Google for comment, but had received none at the time of writing.

Google's takeover of Motorola Mobility, which has 17,000 patents, is intended to provide more protection for Android manufacturers against patent attacks from the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

However some, such as the South Korean government and apparently Samsung, fear Google might give preference to Motorola when it comes to dishing out Android updates, or perhaps even use the acquisition to go into the hardware business itself.

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