Google purchase of Motorola Mobility awaiting Chinese approval

Google's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility has received clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice, the European Union and a number of other regulatory agencies that you've probably never heard of. However, both companies are still awaiting the approval of China's anti-trust agency. According to a filing made Monday by Motorola, the agency has extended the second phase of its investigation which could mean more delays.

While Motorola and Google still expect the deal to close in the first half of the year, they said that neither could give assurancethat the deal will get green lit in China. The deal was announced last August and is seen as a way for Google to bolster its patent portfolio by purchasing all of the protected technology belonging to Motorola Mobility. At the time that the deal was announced, it was believed that the latter owned 17,000 patents.

source: SlashGear