Google Drops $12B for Motorola Cellular

Google's getting in the hardware game.

Google announced it has a deal to buy Motorola's mobile phone business, marking the search engine's latest aggressive move into the market. Word came overnight on a Google company blog from Google founder Larry Page.

"I have loved my Motorola phones from the StarTAC era up to the current DROIDs," Page wrote, noting the companies' established relationship under which Motorola makes phones for Google's Android operating system.

Google paid $40 per share, a 63 percent premium over the $24.47 price the Motorola spinoff was trading at on Friday.

Bloomberg News reported that the sale came after investor and Motorola Mobility shareholder Carl Icahn urged the board to explore a sale.

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