Since August of last year, when Google shocked the world with the the announcement of their intent to acquire Motorola Mobility, the search giant has had to jump through several hoops in order to complete the process, including getting regulatory approval from several countries. In February, the U.S. Department of Justice gave the go ahead, but the deal has been hung up on China’s decision, which finally came this past weekend. China’s Ministry of Commerce, who decided to approval the merger, did have one condition in order for the approval to go through, that Android must remain as it is today, open-source and free, meaning Motorola can not, and will not, benefit from “special treatment.”
With China’s approval now out of the way, the $12.5 billion deal should close in the next few months.