Bankrupt telecom firm Nortel has sold its remaining patent portfolio for $4.5 billion to a group of six firms including technology giants firm Microsoft and Apple. The other companies in group includes Sony, RIM (Research in Motion), Ericsson and EMC.
The auction of Nortel’s assets had been hotly contested with Intel and Google losing out. Google had opened the bidding in April at $900 million. The sale included nearly 6,000 patents and patent applications that included varied areas like semiconductors and data networking.
The chief strategy officer of Nortel, George Riedel said that the size and dollar value for this transaction was exceptional as the portfolio included some of major companies around the world.
Canada based telecom Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and since then they has been selling assets, raising nearly $3.2 billion in the process. Earlier on Thursday, Nortel gained a court order to extend its bankruptcy protection to 14th December “to provide stability to the Nortel companies to continue with their divestiture and other restructuring efforts”. The patents mark the last major assets to be sold by the company.
Patents are becoming highly prized prices of intellectual property. The final sale price was much higher than earlier estimates of $1 billion to $2 billion.
