Lenovo is not happy with its purchase of Motorola from Google

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Yang Yuanqing

World Economic Forum via flickr

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing

Lenovo is the latest company to struggle with its purchase of Motorola.

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The Chinese tech company, which paid $2.91 billion to buy the ailing Motorola from Google two years ago, confessed on Friday that its efforts to integrate Motorola into its business "did not meet expectations."

In particular, shipments of mobile products such as phones and tablets in China's hypercompetitive mobile market plummeted 85% in the most recent quarter, Lenovo said.

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And a "product transition" in North America, including a delayed launch of the Moto G smartphone, was "not successful."

Capturing large market shares in China and North America is key for Lenovo to successfully diversify its business and expand as a global mobile maker.

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Lenovo is not the first tech giant to face challenges with Motorola, a pioneering US tech company that has struggled to adapt to the changing market. Google acquired Motorola and its many patents in 2012 for $12.5 billion but failed to reverse the phone-maker's years of decline. When Google sold Motorola to Lenovo, it retained a significant portion of Motorola's patents.

But Lenovo isn't giving up: "Lenovo has learned a great deal since the close of the Motorola acquisition and is applying learnings quickly, with actions in organization, leadership and approach," the company said in its quarterly earnings press release.

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