Pete Bigelow · Midwest Memo: Google Buys Motorola, Secret Talks on SB5 Compromise

August 15th, 2011


Three stories making news across the Midwest today:

1. Google acquires Motorola. Google will buy cell-phone maker Motorola Mobility, according to our partner station WBEZ, in a deal worth $12.5 billion in cash. The companies say the deal has been approved by both boards. Good will pay $40 per share for Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola, a 63 percent premium on Friday’s closing price. PC Magazine writes today that, for Google, the deal is about acquiring patent rights as much as it is about Motorola’s hardware, such as the Android properties.

2. Fannie Mae violates own policy. Foreclosure rates across the Great Lakes have fallen dramatically in the past year according to recent data, but rates may have remained artificially high because of Fannie Mae foreclosure practices now under scrutiny. The Detroit Free Press reported Sunday the mortgage giant had violated its own policy by forcing banks to foreclose on delinquent homeowners, even as the banks were trying to help borrowers save their houses under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program.

3. Deal to weaken SB5? Officials from two organizations formed to oppose Ohio’s collective bargaining bill secretly met with lawmakers and discussed a possible deal to weaken the controversial legislation. The Columbus Dispatch reports the talks included a potential compromise that included the cancellation of a November referendum on the bill known as SB5. Though no deal was agreed upon, The Dispatch wrote a “framework had emerged to repeal Senate Bill 5 in exchange for union concessions.”

Category: Biztech, Google, Government, Housing, Industry, Ohio, SB5, foreclosures
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