Google (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) senior vice president of products, Sundar Pichai, will become CEO of a “slimmed down” company as part of a major restructuring which will see current chief and co-founder Larry Page head up new parent…
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) senior vice president of products, Sundar Pichai, will become CEO of a “slimmed down” company as part of a major restructuring which will see current chief and co-founder Larry Page head up new parent company, Alphabet.
The restructuring is designed to make the company “cleaner and more accountable,” Page said in a blog post.
Page said Pichai, who joined Google in 2004 and previously headed up its Chrome, Android and Apps divisions, has “really stepped up” since October last year when he took on product and engineering responsibility for Google’s internet businesses.
“Sergey [Brin, Page’s co-founder] and I have been super excited about his progress and dedication to the company. And it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google.”
Under Pichai’s leadership, Google will continue to focus on innovation and its mission to “organise the world’s information”, he continued, pointing to the recent launches of Google Photos and Google Now as examples of how this is progressing.
As head of products at Google, Pichai, 43, oversees product management, engineering and research efforts for Google’s products and platforms.
Alphabet will replace Google Inc as the publicly-traded entity on NASDAQ and all Google shares will automatically convert into the same number of Alphabet shares, with the same rights. Google will become Alphabet’s largest and wholly-owned subsidiary. Non-core businesses will be run separately.
“Alphabet is about businesses prospering through strong leaders and independence,” Page said. “In general, our model is to have a strong CEO who runs each business.”
In an SEC filing, Google said the main Google business will include search, ads, map, apps YouTube and Android and the related technical infrastructure. Businesses including Calico, Nest and Fiber and investment arms such as Google Venture and Google Capital, and incubator projects such as Google X, will be managed separately.
At Alphabet, Page will fill the CEO role, Brin will be president and Eric Schmidt will be executive chairman. Ruth Poratwill be senior VP and CFO and David Drummond will be senior VP of corporate development, chief legal officer and secretary. Page, Brin, Schmidt and Drummond will move from their respective roles at Google, while Porat will also retain her position as CFO of Google. Omid Kordestani, currently Google’s chief business officer, will become an advisor to both Alphabet and Google.
The new legal and operating structure will be introduced in phases over the coming months and, when complete, the company will report two sets of financial results: those of the Google business and those of the Alphabet businesses as a whole.
