UPDATED 19:34 EDT / DECEMBER 03 2019

POLICY

Sundar Pichai takes over as Alphabet CEO as Larry Page and Sergey Brin step down

Google LLC co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin today handed over control of parent company Alphabet Inc. to current Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai.

Page and Brin will remain as Alphabet employees and retain their seats on its board of directors, but will no longer oversee its day-to-day operations, they said.

The pair made the announcement four years after Google restructured itself under Alphabet’s umbrella. The move saw Google’s key internet businesses, such as its search engine, Gmail and G Suite, separated from more experimental projects around robots and self-driving cars. Pichai (pictured) become Google’s CEO, while Page and Brin oversaw Alphabet.

Pichai, who first joined Google in 2004 as a product manager, is now responsible for it all.

“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,” Page and Brin said in a statement. “We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company.”

Pichai added that he was excited about leading Alphabet as it attempts to tackle some of the biggest challenges in the world through technology. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Larry and Sergey in our new roles,” he said in a statement.

The reorganization comes at a difficult time for Google, which is currently the subject of several antitrust investigations being led by federal and state officials in the U.S., and also by officials in Europe.

The company is facing cultural challenges too, with several employees recently walking out from their jobs in protest at its apparent mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations. Employees have also complained about Google’s contracts with the Pentagon to develop artificial intelligence technology, and its Project Dragonfly initiative, which is a prototype search engine for Chinese internet users that’s compliant with that country’s censorship rules.

Google was also hit by news Monday that four former employees are filing charges of unfair labor practices against it. The ex-employees, who were fired last month, have accused Google of sacking them to quash worker organizing, which would be in violation of federal labor laws. Google insists they were fired for violating data security policies, not organizing.

Still, not much change is expected, at least in the short term, since both Page and Brin have pulled back from public active involvement in the company. “Although the handoff represents a milestone for Google (and the broader tech industry), we also think the appointment of Pichai is a formality for the business,” Cowen & Co. analyst John Blackledge wrote in a note to clients.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller told SiliconANGLE that Page and Brin were stepping back relatively early in their careers compared with other well-known tech company founders such as Larry Ellison at Oracle Corp., for example. But he said they can afford to do that because they have found an extremely competent leader in Pichai.

“Pichai has shown his ability to put together a strong leadership bench, recruiting CEO candidates like Thomas Kurian and Robert Enslin,” Mueller said. “This all helps for the necessary restructuring inside of Alphabet, which is likely the next big news to be expected from Google on the organizational side.”

Photo: Philippe Masse/Flickr

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