Barclays to help Google seek buyers for Motorola Mobility’s Home Business unit

New York, NY, United States (4E) – Google has partnered with Barclays Plc to sell its Motorola Mobility television boxes to cable television providers, according to Bloomberg’s sources. Google acquired Motorola three months ago and wants to profit from Motorola Mobility’s Home Business, which is worth an estimated $2 billion. Motorola previously tried to sell its Home Business unit for $4 billion three years ago. Barclays will handle the business side and look for buyers.

With its acquisition of Motorola, Google wants the mobile company to focus its efforts on the smartphone market. In a move to save money, Google let go almost 4,000 Motorola employees after its purchase.

Google’s Android operating system powers smartphones manufactured by the likes of Samsung, Nokia and Sony. In the first quarter of 2012, more than 50 percent of the smartphones in the world were powered by Android. In that same time period, the iPhone held only 23 percent of the global smartphone market, according to data compiled by Gartner Inc.

Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility is seen by some analysts as a step toward featuring its popular Android operating system exclusively on Motorola. Google purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion effectively acquiring its patents.

“Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers,” said Google chief executive officer Larry Page after the tech giant acquired Motorola.

Previously, Google attempted to acquire the patents of Nortel Networks Corp. but it was outbid by a group that featured rivals Apple and Microsoft. With Motorola Mobility now under its helm, Google has acquired an estimated 17, 000 patents.

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