Google is not averse to taking risks, but it's also a company that has to make a profit. That's why Google surprisingly put in a bid to buy cellphone company Motorola Mobility in the summer of 2011, and also why it is selling it now.

On Wednesday, Google's CEO Larry Page announced on Google's blog (via Washington Post) "We've just signed an agreement to sell Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion." Page went on to say that the acquisition of Motorola helped Google "supercharge the Android ecosystem" and gave the company a stronger patent portfolio.

"But the smartphone market is super competitive, and to thrive it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices," said Page. "It's why we believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo-which has a rapidly growing smartphone business and is the largest (and fastest-growing) PC manufacturer in the world."

Page said selling Motorola allows Google to focus on the Android ecosystem, but that the move "does not signal a larger shift for [Google's] other hardware efforts."

This likely means that Google isn't afraid of partnering with hardware makers, like ASUS, Samsung, and more recently LG Electronics, to create smartphones geared towards the latest stock Android software. And, despite the two great Motorola smartphones that were released in late 2013 -- the customizable Moto X and the unlocked, high-value budget Moto G -- in hindsight, one might have seen Google's sale of Motorola coming.

Throughout 2013, Google released several different devices by other manufacturers geared towards the "pure Android" experience. The Google Play Edition of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 both made waves before even rumors of a new Google smartphone from Motorola existed, and later, Google expanded into tablets, adding a Sony tablet and LG's new G Pad 8.3 to its Play Edition offerings. In late 2013, Google announced the Play Edition of the Moto G, which simultaneously showed Google's interest in extending hardware partnerships for Play Edition smartphones while seeming completely redundant at the time.

Meanwhile, the two most Google-centric devices released in 2013 were the highly anticipated Nexus 5 and the revamp of the Nexus 7 tablet -- both made by a partnership with companies that were not Motorola (LG and ASUS, respectively), despite rumors to the contrary.

And the two highly visible 2013 Google "Moto" devices that Motorola did make have not helped the company overcome the its continuing losses, despite big marketing campaigns, sales, and well-made hardware.

So Google selling off Motorola and getting its hands (and balance sheet) clean of the
"super competitive" world of smartphone manufacturing makes sense -- especially since the Mountain View giant is signaling that it will continue to partner with hardware manufacturers for devices like Nexuses and Google Play Edition smartphones and tablets. The only thing: Google is selling Motorola for $2.91 billion; it acquired the company for $12.5 billion.

It's not hard to see Page taking a hit from a bad decision that he made a couple years ago, just to stop hemorrhaging money out of its hardware subsidiary, but Google isn't losing everything in this sale. It's keeping the vast majority of patents from Motorola, which Page says Google will "continue to use to defend the entire Android ecosystem."