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EU Regulators Delay Google's Motorola Buy, Seeking More Info
judgecorp writes "The European Commission is delaying Google's proposed purchase of Motorola Mobility, saying it wants 'more infromation.' Europe may be nervous of the power the purchase will give Google in the mobile space."
Although I am generally in favor of the government organizations checking on private companies (I think there is no such thing as a *fully* free market), I think the EU is sometimes overshooting their goal. It seems to me that there is no reason to disallow this deal. So generally what happens is just the delay, which can kill the value of the company that is being taken over. Sure, large take overs take time, but adding time to the deal in this fast paced sector can cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars really quick. Hopefully they will not take months (again) to validate the deal.
Google is incorporated in the EU too and they review all big mergers like this. You're talking nonsense.
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Bad troll, bad..
:. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
My question is, will they open the bootloader of the motorola phones that have been, or will be, released so that they have a truly open device?
I agree with you, big mergers should be reviewed... though the timing seems slightly suspicious... motorola announces a battle with apple... and pouf, they get called in by the regulator. In this case, given apple's litigative anti competitive behavior, it may be a good way to even out the playing field
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
This is probably why the EU is interested in the Google purchase of Motorola. The listing below are just the UK company details, I'm quite sure there's a Google and Motorola Solutions office in each EU member state. Just because the group head office is in the US doesn't remove the merger being scrutinised by non-US entities. One would think the you consider the USA is the centre of the world by your last comment...
MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED
JAYS CLOSE
VIABLES IND EST
BASINGSTOKE HANTS
RG22 4PD
Company No. 00912182
And
GOOGLE UK LIMITED
BELGRAVE HOUSE
76 BUCKINGHAM PALACE ROAD
LONDON
SW1W 9TQ
Company No. 03977902
Motorola Problems (opposite of Solutions) is a US company. Google is a US company.
Why is the EU even getting involved at all? This has nothing to do with them, other than the fact that some of their lobbyists see Apple dollars and that hamstringing this merger would help keep Apple with the upper hand in this patent polka that all the phone companies are forced to play.
Maybe the EU should look at other things like banks, and their problems.
Google has officially asked the EU regulation commission on its statement to the merger.
Even though the commission could not stop them from merging, there could be serious consequences after the merger in the EU member states.
So it is in Google's best interest, to get an OK by the EU.
Oh, I forgot ... EU Banks? Didn't the US banks kicked off this whole mess in the first place?
The US financial crisis and the rating agencies didn't help, but they mostly uncovered the crap that was already accumulated - unsustainable policies, hidden debt, lack of a real common vision as an Union, etc. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
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It was pretty much just banks in general with their dodgy loan policies wasn't it?
which is totally what she said
Our instead of making up conspiracies you can notice how the article quotes Google that this is routine procedure.
All true, but Google isn't buying Motorola Solutions. They're getting the mobility version. It was a single company up until a year ago.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Yeah, I have copies of the Economist going back to 2004 point out the dangers of Euro Debt while questioning the longevity of the Euro.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
And you don't see the difference between a US regulatory agency looking into a merger between two American companies and an EU agency doing the same?
Isn't it odd how people still believe a multinational corporation is "American" in spite of all of our previous discussions about how they have restructured themselves to minimize their US corporate taxes, spreading their assets and operations in different jurisdictions, and embedding their revenue gathering into many world markets?
On the one hand, I don't feel that these corporations deserve a very protective stance by the American people, since they have clearly turned their backs on us and attempted to minimize their obligations to us. On the other hand, I also see that their future depends on their access to multiple world markets, so they would be foolish to take an isolationist stance with what is a strategic merger of assets and operations.
Motorola Problems (opposite of Solutions) is a US company. Google is a US company.
Why is the EU even getting involved at all? This has nothing to do with them, other than the fact that some of their lobbyists see Apple dollars and that hamstringing this merger would help keep Apple with the upper hand in this patent polka that all the phone companies are forced to play.
Maybe the EU should look at other things like banks, and their problems.
Bro, the existence of conglomerates with assets in multiple continents (and thus subject to multiple judicial systems) is a hard to grasp notion in that isolated cow town of yours, ain't it <pulls out banjo>squeal little piggie</pulls out banjo>
You haven't been paying attention. The EU likes to make themselves relevant for all kinds of mergers that aren't any of their business. (Oracle/Sun and GE/Honeywell off the top of my head). Doubly so when it could affect a European company -- perhaps you've heard of Nokia?
If a US-based company is also registered in the EU and conducts massive business operations therein, then mergers and acquisitions by said company are, you know, kinda like "ZOMG Kim Kardashian LOLCATS" under EU jurisdiction. Ergo, it is their business to nose around.
I think the EU's nosing around in these mergers (Moto+Google, Oracle+Sun) are really stupid (and horrendously costly for the companies involved). But we are not debating the is/ought meta-ethics conundrum, but observing the EU exercising its legal jurisdiction muscles, which are sovereignty theirs to flex.
All of the companies mentioned operate in Europe, that makes it the EU's business. You clearly don't understand the situation.
I'm assuming you're an American, it seems you have very strong feelings about "your" companies despite the fact that they operate abroad. They're incorporated in Europe. If they operate in the EU, they're subject to European laws. If you want to sell your products in Europe, you will be subject to our market regulations and laws.
The same principle applies to European and other companies in other markets including the US. You're being very narrow minded and strongly nationalistic, yet your nation, the United States of America, is the strongest advocate of globalization and free trade.
If you can't take the pain, don't play the game!
As for your ludicrous claim that this has anything to do with Nokia, Europeans are not "Europeans" first and foremost. Nokia is a Finnish concern. There are few if any other European countries interested in what happens to a Finnish company. Did you even know that there are several other European cellphone makers? SonyEricsson of Sweden for example, and there are others.
Your next suggestion would probably be "lobbyists", however the European equivalent of the US Congress, the European Parliament, doesn't really have that kind of power and neither do the lobbyists. We're not as corrupt as the US on a federal level, that remains on a national level.
In the EU the national leaders are all naturally looking out for their own country's interests, the EU itself on the other hand cuts evenly and is only interested in fair competition regardless of your origin. The EU's competition authority and courts don't give a rats ass about your claims, they're vigilant and justly so, in the interest of the average European consumer.
To be frank, reading about the EU and Euro in a British publication is about as reasonable as reading about Jews in the Al-Qaida magazine.
Of course it's more than likely to be more complicated than that :)
Absolutely, only Microsoft and Apple should be allowed to patent trolls. Other companies should not even be allowed to defend themselves against MS and Apple.
By the way: how many scam lawsuits has Google filed? And how about MS and Apple?
I'm 100% sure that Moto is present in EU. At the very least in Germany.
I strongly disagree with that. They clearly outlined the problems with Greece from day one. The whole idea of the Euro ever working is and always has been a fantasy, just like the idea that housing prices would always go up.
The British press is on whole very terrible, you'll get no arguments from me in general. However, the Economist is quite different from news of the world or even the London Times. You paint with too broad a brush.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Yep