Motorola Mobility names Rick Osterloh as COO ahead of Lenovo buy

(Reuters) - Motorola Mobility has named Rick Osterloh as its chief operating officer, reporting to the Motorola Operating Board at Google Inc until its acquisition by Lenovo Group Ltd is completed.

The appointment was made public on Wednesday on Motorola's official blog by Jonathan Rosenberg, who will continue in his role as Google liaison and adviser to Motorola through the transition period. (http://r.reuters.com/buj48v)

Lenovo agreed to buy Google's Motorola handset division for $2.91 billion in January, in what was China's largest-ever tech deal.

"We're confident in his (Osterloh's) ability to not only manage a smooth transition at Motorola from Google to Lenovo but, also to lead the business forward for continued growth," said Liu Jun, EVP, Mobile Business Group, Lenovo.

Osterloh, who was responsible for the delivery of software and operation of the Android platform at Motorola, joined the company seven years ago and left for a 2-year stint in between at Skype.

(Reporting by Arnab Sen in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)