Google has completed the acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in an all-cash deal and appointed Dennis Woodside as the new CEO in place of Sanjay Jha, who has decided to step down.
“I’m happy to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed...Sanjay Jha, who was responsible for building the company and placing that big bet on Android, has stepped down as CEO,” Google CEO Larry Page said in joint statement of the two companies on Tuesday late night.
Mr. Woodside, who takes over from Mr. Jha, was serving as President of Google’s Americas region, it added.
Mr. Jha, meanwhile, will continue to work with Google to help ensure a smooth transition, the statement said.
This is the biggest deal in Google’s 14-year history.
The two companies had announced the deal nine months ago.
Google acquired Motorola Mobility in an all-cash deal for $40 per share.
“I’ve known Dennis for nearly a decade, and he’s been phenomenal at building teams and delivering on some of Google’s biggest bets. One of his first jobs at Google was to put on his backpack and build our businesses across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia,” Mr. Page said.
Google has hired a new team for running business at Motorola Mobility, which includes former Director of DARPA Regina Dugan, former supply chain VP at Amazon and previously at Nokia Mark Randall, former CFO of Marsh and McLennan Vanessa Wittman, former head of HR at Visa and NVIDIA Scott Sullivan, and former Google VP of Consumer Marketing Gary Briggs.
Members of Motorola Mobility’s team, including Senior Vice-President for Global Product Development Iqbal Arshad, Chief of Staff Marshall Brown, Senior Vice President for Mass Market Products Fei Liu and some others will continue working at the their existing position, the statement said.
