After Google got the green light to go ahead with the acquisition of Motorola Mobility from US and European Union regulators earlier this year, China’s antitrust authorities have now also given the company the go ahead.

Google announced back in August 2011 that it will be acquiring Motorola Mobility for around $12.5 billion, with the Chinese’s approval the final hurdle for the search giant in the deal.

According to the Wall Street Journal, China’s Ministry of Commerce had one stipulation for approving the acquisition though: that Google must keep its Android mobile platform open-source and freely available to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for the next five years.

The web search giant stated that Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and that Android will remain open. Google will run the US-based smartphone and tablet maker as a separate business.  

New CEO

Sanjay Jha, who led Motorola through this acquisition, has stepped down as CEO, but will continue to work with Google to help ensure a smooth transition. Replacing Jha as CEO of Motorola Mobility is Dennis Woodside, who has overseen the integration planning for the acquisition and previously served as president of Google’s Americas region.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said: “I’m happy to announce the deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation. It’s a great time to be in the mobile business, and I’m confident that the team at Motorola will be creating the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come.”

New hires

Page added that Woodside is already off to great start with some very strong new hires for the Motorola team. Woodside has recruited a small number of individuals who will immediately join Motorola’s executive team, including Mark Randall (former supply chain VP at Amazon and previously at Nokia), Scott Sullivan (former head of HR at Visa and Nvidia) and Gary Briggs (former Google VP of Consumer Marketing).

“Motorola literally invented the entire mobile industry with the first-ever commercial cell phone in 1983,” stated Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola Mobility. “Thirty years later, mobile devices are at the center of the computing revolution. Our aim is simple: to focus Motorola Mobility’s remarkable talent on fewer, bigger bets, and create wonderful devices that are used by people around the world.”

In related news, Motorola Mobility recently revealed that it will be shortening its list of mobile devices slated to get an update for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).