Google's Acquisition of Motorola Mobility Gets Rare Second Review by Justice Department

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice has slowed Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility with a rare second request for information. Last month, Google announced it was acquiring Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion, its biggest acquisition to date. With this acquisition, Google will gain direct control over the maker of many of its Android smartphones. Keep in mind, Google’s Android mobile platform now represents almost half of all smartphones shipped worldwide. Android is by far the leading mobile operating system in the U.S., owning 39% of the market according to the latest figures from Nielsen. Google is the default search engine of all Android devices. As a result, Google controls around 98% of mobile search, according to the latest data from StatCounter.

Google called the second request “pretty routine” and noted that “we’ve gotten these kind of requests before.”

Truth? Less than 4.5% of mergers get this special attention.Of course, Google, with its 79% share of search and search advertising in the U.S., has demonstrated that its power must be kept in check. That’s why Google is being investigated by law enforcement agencies and government officials all over the world.

Given Google’s recent track record, and by that we mean a second request for virtually every significant deal its announced since 2007 (DoubleClick, AdMob, ITA Software, AdMeld, and now Motorola Mobility), we’re guessing Google meant that FOR GOOGLE, the second request really is “pretty routine.”