Why Obama Should Cheer Google’s Purchase of Motorola Mobility

President Obama should take a moment this morning to applaud  Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

This deal is a case of an innovative and job-creating American company using its cash stockpile to invest in another American company–billions that will almost certainly be followed by more billions to develop new and innovative products.  Rather than sitting on its profits, Google is doubling down on the mobile sector, and the result is almost certainly going to be more investment and more jobs in the U.S.

In a critical sense, Google is justifying its reputation as a force for disruptive innovation by putting its money behind its words. The company could have stayed in search advertising, and continued to collect its billions in income more safely. Instead, it’s turned itself into a full-fledged competitor to Apple in the mobile ecosystems space.

For the U.S. economy, the Google deal is nothing but good news.  We’d be a lot better off if other companies with cash followed the Google example of investing in innovative U.S. companies–and President Obama should say so.

About Michael Mandel 126 Articles

Michael Mandel was BusinessWeek's chief economist from 1989-2009, where he helped direct the magazine's coverage of the domestic and global economies.

Since joining BusinessWeek in 1989, he has received multiple awards for his work, including being honored as one of the 100 top U.S. business journalists of the 20th century for his coverage of the New Economy. In 2006 Mandel was named "Best Economic Journalist" by the World Leadership Forum.

Mandel is the author of several books, including Rational Exuberance, The Coming Internet Depression, and The High Risk Society.

Mandel holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

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