Sundar Pichai minted CEO of Alphabet as Google co-founders step aside
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was on Tuesday tapped to replace Larry Page as CEO of parent company Alphabet, a final step in what has been a graduated withdrawal of responsibilities for Google's co-founders.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
The changing of the guard was announced in a letter posted to Google's blog and attributed to co-founders Page and Sergey Brin.
"With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it's the natural time to simplify our management structure," the letter reads. "We've never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there's a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President."
The shift puts Pichai in control of Alphabet's substantial holdings, including Google and offshoots like self-driving car startup Waymo, experimental drone company Wing, life sciences research firm Verily and biotech company Calico. He will also oversee Alphabet's investment subsidiaries CapitalG and GV.
Alphabet started life in 2015 when Google splintered its ballooning business into separate entities. Page slid into a role as chief executive of the umbrella company, leaving Pichai the helm at Google.
Page and Brin will remain "actively involved" as board members and retain a significant portion of company shares, meaning their majority voting power will remain undiluted.
Pichai penned a short letter to thank Page and Brin, as well as outline his vision of Alphabet's coming years.
"I want to be clear that this transition won't affect the Alphabet structure or the work we do day to day," he said. "I will continue to be very focused on Google and the deep work we're doing to push the boundaries of computing and build a more helpful Google for everyone. At the same time, I'm excited about Alphabet and its long term focus on tackling big challenges through technology."
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
The changing of the guard was announced in a letter posted to Google's blog and attributed to co-founders Page and Sergey Brin.
"With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it's the natural time to simplify our management structure," the letter reads. "We've never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there's a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President."
The shift puts Pichai in control of Alphabet's substantial holdings, including Google and offshoots like self-driving car startup Waymo, experimental drone company Wing, life sciences research firm Verily and biotech company Calico. He will also oversee Alphabet's investment subsidiaries CapitalG and GV.
Alphabet started life in 2015 when Google splintered its ballooning business into separate entities. Page slid into a role as chief executive of the umbrella company, leaving Pichai the helm at Google.
Page and Brin will remain "actively involved" as board members and retain a significant portion of company shares, meaning their majority voting power will remain undiluted.
Pichai penned a short letter to thank Page and Brin, as well as outline his vision of Alphabet's coming years.
"I want to be clear that this transition won't affect the Alphabet structure or the work we do day to day," he said. "I will continue to be very focused on Google and the deep work we're doing to push the boundaries of computing and build a more helpful Google for everyone. At the same time, I'm excited about Alphabet and its long term focus on tackling big challenges through technology."
Comments
Are you really expecting Pichal or someone from Google's board of directors to chime in and answer your questions?
Whenever I hear about a person being "tapped", I picture someone sticking a spigot in them to drain them of their sap.
exact contribution to the betterment of humanity? couple of hobby companies that have resulted in a hand sonar for changing songs on one phone.
those two are literally the worst scumbags on earth, actually they were trained by the worst scumbag on earth, eric schmidt.
they should have every cent stripped from them and given to charities that help abused children, and victims of hate crimes, scams and frauds.
Imagine the ride, only twenty years to arrive where they are now and still in their 40's with a lifetime ahead of them. Cool stuff....
Also notable that he makes $1.8 million salary, versus say Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO (who makes $17.6 million salary).
Fun Fact: Messrs. Brin and Page tried to sell the fledgling Google to Excite in 1998 for $1Million. They got turned down. Tried again for 750K. Still got turned down.
On the surface, the Alphabet reorg was just rearranging the deck chairs or perhaps moving the org boxes but not changing the linkages of the boxes. Google’s revenues covers for all of Alphabet’s other companies’ losses. You basically see that every financial report. Google has a net income of x billions while all of Alphabet’s other companies have combined y hundreds of millions in losses. That’s a one strange power relationship, since it pretty much meant Pichai really controlled Alphabet as all the money and profits was his responsibility. Then, Alphabet looks like a conglomeration of companies. Was curious what is the relationship and independence of those companies, what Brin and Page actually did. It’s been about 4 years and none of those other companies have broken out to be a money maker with its own means.