Lenovo tipped to acquire Motorola for several billion [UPDATE: Official]

Motorola is currently listed as being “a Google company.” But based on some recent and still developing reports, it looks like that may soon be changing. Details coming from both China Daily and Reuters suggest Lenovo will be acquiring Motorola from Google. While not official just yet, there was talk of the deal being worth “at least” $2 billion. Separately, Reuters is reporting the deal is “close to” $3 billion.

UPDATE: It’s official.

Details coming from China Daily mention how Lenovo is expected to make an announcement on Thursday morning in Beijing. And while Lenovo didn’t offer any specifics, there was mention of this being about a “major acquisition.” Given the current status of Motorola in the Android world, this could certainly be the boost Lenovo needs to be a bit more competitive, especially in the US market.

Further comments coming from Reuters touched on how Lenovo would be handling the acquisition with a mix of cash and stock, as well as deferred payments. Aside from the one mention of this being a major acquisition from Lenovo, both reports only refer to unnamed sources. Otherwise, looking back, Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2011 for roughly $12.5 billion.

This does bring a few questions though. Is Lenovo looking to acquire Motorola as a quick entry into the US market, or is there more going on behind the scenes. Possibly, something more in terms of intellectual property. The other side is why (assuming these reports are accurate) is Google looking to sell off Motorola. The conspiracy theory here suggests Google is doing this to distance themselves in an effort to avoid the favoritism comments.