Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. said its shareholders on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to accept the cellphone maker's proposed sale to Google for $12.5 billion. Approximately 99 percent of the shares voting at a special meeting of stockholders voted in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement, which represented approximately 74 percent of Motorola Mobility's total outstanding shares of common stock as of the October 11, 2011 record date for the meeting.

Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, "We are pleased and gratified by the strong support we have received from our stockholders, with more than 99 percent of the voting shares voting in support of the transaction. We look forward to working with Google to realize the significant value this combination will bring to our stockholders and all the new opportunities it will provide our dedicated employees, customers, and partners."

Last August Motorola Mobility and Google entered into a definitive agreement for Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $12.5 billion. Motorola previously disclosed that it expected the merger to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012. However, given the schedule of regulatory filings, the company currently believes that the close is expected to occur in early 2012. However, the merge is must still be approved by government regulators.

The U.S. Justice Department is in the midst of an extended review of the deal.