As usual, confused

I know I am not the only one feeling the confusion here... 

     To my knowledge, Nexus started as a Motorola product. Most likely inspired by the rantings of some executive's young son saying "Dad, wouldn't it be cool it your cell phone could work as a walky-talky?" 
A few year later I was confused as Sprint was claiming "ownership" of Nexus in their ads. And now, its Verizon's turn to "own" Nexus? Now to increase the confusion, there is no mention of Motorola, or Sprint, only that Verizon will offer Nexus by Samsung???? 
         "Breaker, breaker there good buddie"