More than 20 years after launch, co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin officially step down from running its parent company Alphabet.
Although both men will leave as Alphabet’s CEO and president, they will remain board members of the organisation. It indicates that they still maintain voting control over the business, except that it is not guaranteed that they can influence the direction of Alphabet.
“We’ve never been the 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,” they said in a letter.
Sunday Pichai, the current CEO of Google will take over the position of CEO of Alphabet in addition to his present role, a statement said. He took over as CEO of the company in 2015 while it was revamping to create Alphabet. Before then, he served as product chief of Google and head of Android operating system. Google experienced growth under his leadership as well as expanding more into hardware and cloud computing.
Alphabet was founded in 2015 as part of a corporate revamping of Google which was founded in a Menlo Park garage.
The new development comes at a time when Google is facing scrutiny from regulators and politicians in the US and Europe. The company is facing queries that bother on its size, data privacy practices and potential impact on the society.
Larry Page who used to be the face of the company has receded from public view. He has been absent from company events, quarterly earnings, and hasn’t appeared at Google’s hearings on Capitol Hill. He was called before the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating election meddling, but he was absent.
Perhaps, he has been to busy with other investments. In July 2018, he splurged a handful of money into a flying car start-up focused on technology. Before then, he had invested an undisclosed sum in Opener, another start-up which unveiled a single seat, electric take-off and landing aircraft called BlackFly.
While this is ongoing, the big tech is confronted with growing tensions with some employees at the firm. Google laid off four staff members over data-security policies. Some other workers stood in solidarity and accused Google of trying to suppress its critics.
Although both founders didn’t state a reason for leaving the company, they said they will remain active board members and shareholders.
