said by sonicmerlin:said by 67845017:They don't want to be in manufacturing.
This is all really about the IP.
Which is why the US patent system is horribly broken. Billions upon billions in corporate capital wasted in hoarding patents to defend oneself. Software patents have caused so much waste in US business it's enough to make you depressed.
$12 billion is a huge amount of money. Google could build FTTH out to a significant fraction of US urban areas. Or buy some spectrum and build out DIDO wireless systems across America.
Watching them forced to waste money like this is just a blow to one's morale.
$12B gets them over $3B in cash, disposable manufacturing assets probably worth over another $3B, etc. In the end, I bet Google doesn't pay much more than $4-5B for the patents. And, it's a much better portfolio than Nortel's.
On a personal level, I like the patent system. Yeah, parts of it need to be fixed, but it's been very good to me.
