Google gets green light

Market regulators from the US Justice Department's antitrust division approved Internet giant Google's $12.5 billion (9.5 billion euros) acquisition of Motorola Mobility late on Monday.

Officials made the announcement only hours after European regulators approved the same transaction.

The Justice Department said the move was "unlikely to substantially lessen competition" or to "significantly change existing market dynamics."

European Union regulators had approved purchase earlier Monday.

"We have approved the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google because, upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues," said EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Joaquin Almunia.

Largest ever purchase

The EU investigation looked at whether Google might seek to hinder handset manufacturers such as Samsung or HTC from using the Android mobile operating system that it developed.

The decisions in Google's favor remove two major barriers to the firm's largest ever purchase, viewed as critical in its efforts to take on high-tech rival Apple.

Google sets value on the more than 17,000 patents owned by Motorola, which would prove to be a crucial weapon in its battle to compete effectively.

The deal will "enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice and wonderful user experiences," Google's deputy general counsel, Don Harrison, wrote in a blog post.

The news means that Google must now satisfy regulators in China, Taiwan and Israel before taking control of its target. The biggest obstacle could now be China. In 2010, Google upset Beijing when it rerouted its Chinese search engine from the mainland to Hong Kong in protest at censorship laws.

rc/ai (AFP, AP, Reuters)