Having closely followed the activities of Motorola and what Google's been doing with it post-acquisition, it's (now) obvious to me they were always trying to sa

Having closely followed the activities of Motorola and what Google's been doing with it post-acquisition, it's (now) obvious to me they were always trying to safely unwind it & protect the rest of their hardware partners[1]. The upside that they were hoping for was that the IP portfolio would be a good defensive weapon against Apple instead of an offensive one against other Android ODMs, but that didn't pan out. They were never expecting to be a major ODM themselves for the long haul. You're right that the contractors working at that facility may have gotten their walking papers earlier had Google had not come around post-Nokia (it was a most recently a Nokia plant - not a Motorola one, IIRC), so there is that to be said. Again, my complaint is that it's just terrible optics for Schmidt et. al, to have signaled a commitment to growing U.S. manufacturing and then sold this enterprise not 2 full quarters from tepid launch of a toned-down flagship that didn't even get full support from the parent company's management.[2] Additionally, Google did not really spend an "enormous" amount of money creating tech manufacturing jobs. They shrunk Motorola and phased out numerous lines and support for them and released thousands of Mobility workers before even launching the Moto X. Yes, this might have happened anyway, but it's not like they were trying to grow the business organically. They were winding it down (and getting it ready for sale) while talking about growing it. They were also able to take advantage of Motorola's losses to offset their own corporate tax liability and I'm sure they got manufacturing credits in Texas on that plant, which is why they had Gov. Rick Perry and all the cameras there and played up the whole "bringing back jobs" angle even though they were all temporary contractors. [1] http://www.unwiredview.com/2011/08/11/motorolas-sanjay-jha-openly-admits-they-plan-to-collect-ip-royalties-from-other-android-makers/ http://www.unwiredview.com/2011/08/11/motorolas-sanjay-jha-o... [2] http://www.businessinsider.com/motorolas-super-powered-google-phone-2014-3 http://www.businessinsider.com/motorolas-super-powered-googl...