Lenovo Group Ltd. 0992.HK +4.58% agreed to buy Google Inc. GOOG -1.43% 's Motorola Mobility unit for $2.91 billion, a deal that reverses the Internet company's short-lived move into smartphone hardware.
The deal will transfer the Motorola handset business to the Chinese company, a new entrant into that market that is trying to build its presence rapidly. But Google will retain the vast majority of patents it acquired in its 2012 purchase of Motorola Mobility, a key motivation of the original...
