Cyanogen received $ 70 million from Microsoft, one of the goals is to reduce Google’s control over Android

Familiar with the situation, the sources of the Wall Street Journal claim that the well-known startup Cyanogen received from Microsoft a significant round of funding of $ 70 million. One of the goals of the investment is to reduce Google’s control over Android. At the same time, the size of monetary influence can be significantly increased later at the expense of other strategic investors, whose names are not named.



Although WSJ reviewers cite "informed sources," Cyanogen’s head Kirt McMaster gave an excuse to think about the future of Android last week, telling reporters at an IT event: “We’re going to take Android from Google.” A little earlier, McMaster announced that Cyanogen received funding of $ 30 million, and a day after his bold statement, he also increased the amount received, having reported receiving investment of $ 100 million. It is possible that the missing part was filled at the expense of Microsoft. There are currently no comments from any of the parties.



Cash infusions into a competitor's operating system, albeit indirectly, should not seem strange: Microsoft receives deductions from each Android device sold. In the summer of this year, the Chinese government, as part of verifying the legality of the deal between Microsoft and Nokia for the purchase of the latter, published a list of patents owned by Redmond and due to which they receive deductions. Some of the patents were obtained by Microsoft themselves, and some were purchased after the bankruptcy of the Canadian telecom equipment manufacturer Nortel Networks.



In October last year, Cyanogen rejected a Google offer to buy a startup. TheInformation blog claims that the amount of the transaction was $ 1 billion.