UPDATED 12:21 EDT / SEPTEMBER 16 2010

Hires and Lateral Moves at Google: Robert Kyncl and Craig Walker

This week, Google has had quite a bit of rumbling on the people side. While the information giant usually gets noticed by the media for its appetite for acquisitions, they also invest in people. Over at The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital, Peter Kafka let’s us in on one such hire:

[Robert] Kyncl left Netflix (NFLX) last week and will become Google’s VP of Content Partnerships, tasked with landing TV and movie deals, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey confirmed that Kyncl has left the company. A Google spokesman gave this non-statement: “We don’t discuss individual hires, however we’re continuing to invest heavily in people and are recruiting top talent across the company.”

Kyncl’s hire looks pretty good for Google who certainly seem to be acquiring their way into streaming video and media. Netflix already has that pinned down pretty well and a veteran of that company will hopefully bring with him knowledge of that industry and contacts that Google can use to continue to leverage their foray into personal entertainment.

As for Craig Walker—the co-founder of GrandCentral, which became Google Voice—according to GigaOM, he is leaving Google Voice to become an entrepreneur for Google Ventures. In a way this isn’t so much a loss for Google, but a gain of a smart, start-up creator who should bring fresh eyes and insight into the industry. The other GrandCentral co-founder, Vincent Paquet, is taking over Walker’s post as Google Voice directorship.


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