in the same way your accountant will make you stop buying drinks when you run out of cash and have maxed out all your cards. Iridum ran out of money. They never got close to cash-flow positive, never made any money, burned up "loads of money". It went TU because they could not raise any more money, because there wasn't much chance of positive cash flow for a really long time. It's been over a decade, several changes in biz models, and still it's hardly shown explosive growth. It looks like a good investment of $11M now, but only after a really long time (in Venture years).

You're right that Google was wise to pick up Moto-mobility for it's smarts. MM has been a pioneer and market leader for a long time. The IP portfolio is huge and hugely valuable.

Accountants have a job to do, as do BODs of publicly traded companies. The accountants tell the story accurately and with traceability (if they're any good). Accountants don't make business decisions, directors do that. BODs' job is to ensure the company makes money and grows. They sometimes make bad decisions and companies fail.

A LOT of companies have made outsourcing descisions, and it often doesn't work out well in the long run. MM made mistakes that let competitors take over a market they created. It isn't as simple as "accountants".

I admit the decision to sell off MM had me scratching my head, but no mystery as to why Google would pick it up. It might turn out to be a good thing for MM, too soon to tell.