Motorola Mobility’s tumultuous timeline saw one more shakeup this morning with the news that Rick Osterloh will be leaving the company as acquiring company Lenovo goes ahead with reorganizaiton plans.
Osterloh will be replaced at Lenovo by Ayman de Lencquesaing, the former head of Lenovo North America and now the Chairman and president of Motorola. In a statement, Lenovo says that his aim will be rapid growth in emerging markets as well as seeking a breakthrough in major mature markets. Lenovo also had some kind parting words for the Motorola leader.
“Rick Osterloh has decided to leave Motorola Mobility. His steady leadership since Lenovo’s acquisition is
appreciated and Lenovo wishes him continued success in the future,” reads a statement.
Motora Mobility was born as an organization when parent company Motrola Inc. split in two on Jan. 5, 2011. It was just five months later that Google announced it would acquire the new division from Motorola for $12.5 billion, despite five straight quarters of losses being filed by the company.
Starting in 2012, Google began selling off parts of Motorola Mobility’s business and cutting its work force. Google fully cut ties with Motorola after a January 2014 sale of the division to Lenovo for $2.91 billion in a cash and stock deal. In August 2015, Lenovo said it would be merging its existing smartphone division into Motorola Mobility as it cut 3,200 jobs across the company. The move made Motrola responsible for developing both the Moto and Vibe branded devices.
Osterloh was the leader at Motorola Mobility as it was acquired by Lenovo, succeeding Dennis Woodside, now the chief operating officer at Dropbox.
Lenovo has already said the Motorola brand will be sunset, although the Moto branded devics will continue to appear as a product line.
Other changes in the Lenovo reorganization will see the Enterprise Business Group become the Data Center Group, lead by President Gerry Smith. Lenovo’s PC Group will be renamed to the PC & Smart Device Business Group, and be responsible for making PCs, hybrid PCs, tablets, phablets, gaming and smart home products for Windows, Chrome and Android-based products. It will be lead by Gianfranco Lanci, Lenovo group president and chief operating officer.
