Google in rumoured £459m deal for six percent of Lenovo

Hong Kong exchange suggests major share purchase, but others unconvinced

Google has reportedly bought a 5.94 percent share in PC maker Lenovo, just days after selling its Motorola mobile phone unit to Lenovo for $2.91bn.

A filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange reported by Reuters, revealed that Google bought 618.3 million Lenovo shares for $1.213 per share on 30 January. The cost of the purchase comes to $750m (£459m).

However, some have voiced scepticism with the reports, claiming that the filing merely represents a potential buy that Google could make if it wished, as part of the deal struck between the two firms when selling the Motorola unit.

V3 contacted Google for clarification on the deal but had received no reply at the time of publication.

If true the deal would be a welcome cash boost for Lenovo, which splashed out more than $5bn in January on both the Motorola acquisition and the purchase of IBM's mid-range server business, for $2.3bn.

Lenovo's purchases underline the firm's desire to increase its dominance in numerous markets, while for Google the deal allowed it to rid itself of its Motorola unit, which has been losing money ever since it was acquired.

It is likely that the firm retained access to some key patents owned by Motorola, but it clearly feels the need to protect itself further, striking deals with Samsung and Cisco to avoid the risk of patent litigation.

Cisco and Samsung have formed a partnership too, in an apparent move to form a coalition against the Rockstar consortium formed by firms including Apple and Microsoft.