Google acquires 5.94% stake in Lenovo for $750 mn

Internet search giant Google Inc had last month bought a 5.94 per cent stake in Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd for $750 million, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The stake was acquired on the day Beijing-based Lenovo agreed to buy Google's Motorola handset division for $2.91 billion (See: Lenovo to buy Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91 bn).

According to the Hong Kong stock exchange Google acquired 618.3 million Lenovo shares at $1.213 per share on 30 January. The deal was China's biggest in the technology sector.

Apart from being the world's largest PC maker, Lenovo is the fourth-largest smartphone maker with 4.9-per cent global market share, having shipped 13.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Nearly all of those sales were in like China, but the Motorola acquisition will give Lenovo a foothold into North and Central America where Motorola's Moto X and Moto G have done well.

The Motorola handset unit acquisition comes two weeks before Lenovo agreed to buy IBM's low-end server business for $2.3 billion. (See: Lenovo Group to buy IBM's server business for $2.3 billion)