By The Associated Press
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (AP) — Motorola said Wednesday it has picked a former Samsung Electronics and Pizza Hut executive to lead marketing efforts at its struggling cell phone division.
William Ogle, most recently chief marketing officer for Samsung, will take on the job, reporting to Sanjay Jha, Motorola's co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices.
The move comes as Motorola looks to spin off its cell phone division into a stand-alone company and boost its performance with a push into the smartphone market.
In April, the division reported a $509 million operating loss for the first three months of the year.
As part of a turnaround effort, Motorola plans to launch new smartphones using Google's Android software some time in the fourth quarter.
The company has not said when the spinoff will happen.
In a statement Wednesday, Jha said Ogle has a "proven record of implementing successful sales and marketing campaigns."
Ogle served as chief marketing officer at Pizza Hut for 12 years before moving to Samsung. Before that he held marketing positions at Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee.