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Google (GOOG) is buying Motorola Mobility (MMI) for $12.3 billion, its largest-ever acquisition. According to the AP, the deal is a "sign the online search leader is serious about expanding beyond its core Internet business." While the dust is settling, let's examine the winners and losers of the deal.

Winner No. 1: Motorola shareholders

To put it bluntly, they just lucked out -- the buyout represents about a 63% premium over Friday's closing stock price. Before Motorola split into two separate companies (Mobility and Motorola Solutions (MSI)), its stock price had crumbled over the past five years.

The activist investor Carl Icahn got involved in Motorola as its fortunes dwindled -- rarely a good sign for management. Icahn is a clear winner today as well; he's the company's largest shareholder, with an 11% stake. Looks like his wishes came true.

Winner No. 2: Consumers

For the growing population of smartphone users, this deal should be a big win. We'll see a more competitive top-to-bottom product from Google and Motorola, and frankly, better smartphones in stores.

Winner No. 3: Nokia (NOK)

All of a sudden, the struggling Nokia looks much more likely to be acquired by Microsoft (MSFT). In the short term, there's also a chance that Android partners that feel jilted might saber-rattle and test Windows 7 Mobile devices. (Before Microsoft fans rejoice, see below.)

Winner No. 4: Android itself

Google's Android operating system will have a better showcase forum and patents shielding its manufacturing partners from onerous licensing fees.

Loser No. 1: Major Android partners

Even though they are saying the right things this morning by praising the deal, major Android partners such as HTC and Samsung will now be the Jan Brady to Motorola's Marsha.

Loser No. 2: Carriers

Carriers lose out because Google's exerting more control over the soup-to-nuts experience of smartphone use, more like Apple (AAPL) does. This takes control out of the carriers' hands, and gives them one more high-powered device manufacturer to wrangle with.

Loser No. 3: Apple

Speaking of Apple ... move over, iFranchise. There's a slick new top-to-bottom smartphone headed your way.

Loser No. 4: Microsoft

Microsoft shares were up this morning, but Mr. Softy looks to be the biggest loser here. As mentioned above, in the short term, Microsoft may benefit from some of Android's big partners' increased willingness to explore Windows 7 smartphones. But in the long run, Microsoft loses leverage. Now that Google has acquired a treasure trove of intellectual property, Microsoft will lose its ability to muscle Android partners into paying Mr. Softy licensing fees, hurting profits and giving said partners less of a reason to jump ship from Android to Windows 7.

Looking ahead

Google is taking a calculated risk that major Android partners won't jump ship. I suspect it's right. Where else can its partners go? Nokia is pulling support from its open Symbian system, and there's little developer or consumer interest around Windows 7 Mobile. If anything, I expect Google will pitch this deal to its Android partners as a win for them, because it should relieve them of Microsoft's hostage-style licensing fees.

Of course, this Google-Motorola deal will have one big hurdle to clear: The Federal Trade Commission will examine it closely, because they review Google every time Eric Schmidt pays the kid next door to cut his grass. I suspect the buyout will clear, though, since Google is keeping Android free and open to all comers, and the deal arguably helps competition among mobile operating systems.

Someday, we'll look back on this deal as an industry game-changer. Exactly how, though, remains to be seen. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Motley Fool analyst Joe Magyer owns shares of Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft, Apple, and Google.

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The red-hot success of recent IPOs by Zillow (Z) and Linkedin (LNKD) has investors feeling lucky, investment bankers drooling, and entrepreneurs racing to take their companies public.

Little wonder that returns-starved investors are chasing growth by bidding up shares of new initial public offerings. Real estate is in the tank, savings accounts are yielding zilch, and the stock market has roller-coastered back to even over the last decade. But like every bubble before this one -- tulips, the Nifty Fifty, real estate, etc. -- this version of dot-bomb 2.0 will leave investors bruised and bankers laughing.

Here's how you can avoid getting burned, and cash in on the trends driving these stocks without taking on all the risk.

Why IPO Prices Go Crazy

The mania around social media, smartphones, and tablets, and the blurring of online and offline commerce is drawing investors like moths to a flame. Pouring gasoline on the fire is the soaring popularity of a wily method for companies going public: the low-float IPO.

Low-float IPOs work like this. Instead of the going-public company and its founders selling gobs of shares to new investors right from the get-go, they sell only a tiny sliver. That contrived scarcity creates a big imbalance between supply and demand, which sends the stock skyrocketing to absurd heights.

Real estate data website Zillow, for example, zoomed 79% on its first day of trading yesterday. The stock now sells for a ridiculous 27 times sales. Reality check: Hyper-growth innovator Apple (AAPL) sells for only 3.5 times sales.

Selling companies and their founders love low-float IPOs for several reasons:

• The engineered boom in the stock price makes the company's early investors paper-rich overnight.
• It creates tons of buzz and free PR for the business.
• Most importantly, it allows the company and its early investors to slowly dump their shares over time at a higher price than if they'd sold them all from the outset.

Beware of Bankers Bearing Gifts

Here's where the laughing bankers come into play. They'll rake in more fees by helping companies slowly unload their shares over time via secondary offerings. In order to keep the music playing, they're using some old and new tricks of the trade to lure investors into gobbling up these IPOs at sky-high prices.

The new tricks include low-float IPOs and focusing on user and member counts, which is this era's version of the dot-com era's focus on clicks and eyeballs. The old trick is using valuation smoke and mirrors. Bankers are shifting focus toward companies' sales growth and away from their mounting losses and questionable business models.

Tip: Price-to-sales ratios are the figures investment bankers use when they want to promote a stock that doesn't earn any money. If these companies were profitable, bankers would be emphasizing price-to-earnings ratios instead.

Use Stupid-High IPO Prices to Find Bargain Bin Deals

The bad news is that the low-float IPO craze won't end well. Small-fry investors who pile into shares of these wildly overvalued businesses will end up getting burned. Steer clear.

The good news is that, unlike the first dot-com bubble, this latest bubble is smaller in scope and its bursting won't send other stocks crashing in its wake. Even better, Mr. Market's mad rush toward splashy IPOs has left tech stalwarts selling at bargain bin prices. Ironically, some of these titans are the best positioned to profit from the social, mobile, and local booms that are driving up the stocks of their smaller, flash-in-the-pan rivals.

Google (GOOG), for example, isn't just firing on all cylinders with its core search business. Its mobile operating system, Android, has vaulted to industry leading market share, its Google Offers deals service is expanding to new markets, and its latest attempt at a Facebook killer, Google+, is off to a smashing start. Or take eBay (EBAY), whose PayPal platform is growing like gangbusters and has twice raised its estimate for mobile payment volumes in 2011. They both have proven business models, great leadership teams, and Fort Knox-style balance sheets.

But whether you take Google, eBay, or none of the above, the most important thing is you keep your wits about you while this latest IPO bubble inflates and bursts. As Warren Buffett is fond of saying, be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.

Motley Fool senior analyst Joe Magyer owns shares of Google. You can follow his musings on Twitter and on Google+. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Google. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of eBay, Google, and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a bull call spread position in Apple.

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Summer's heating up, but apparently the stock market didn't get that memo. Still, there are plenty of places for burned investors to find respite. In this series, we highlight companies with the potential to warm up your portfolio's returns.

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Q: What exactly is meant by "best-performing stock"?

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