Google’s Sundar Pichai also Becomes the CEO of ‘Alphabet’

The co-founder of Google, Larry Page has announced that he is stepping down as the CEO of the search giant’s parent company ‘Alphabet’ to make way for Google CEO Sundar Pichai to take over the additional role, thereby marking a major shift in one of the world’s most valuable companies.

Henceforth Larry Page and co-founder Sergey Brin will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations of Alphabet, although they will remain in the board. Sergey Brin was the president of Alphabet. In 2001, Larry Page has turned over the role of the CEO to Eric Schmidt. He took over Google again after 10 years when Schmidt stepped down from the post.

Page and Brin wrote in their parting announcement, “We are deeply committed to Google and Alphabet for the long term, and will remain actively involved as board members, shareholders and co-founders. We plan to continue talking with Sundar regularly, especially on topics we are passionate about”.

Thus Sundar Pichai inherits the sole responsibility of the company. In recent years Pichai has become the public face of the company, either it be the meeting with the president, while testifying in the Congress, leading Google’s annual developer conference and quarterly investor calls. In Pichai’s leadership, Google has been trying to become more vibrant, amidst a series of leaks in the media and workers pushback. 

Reacting on his additional role, Pichai said, “I want to be clear that this transition won’t affect the Alphabet structure or the work we do day to day”.

In the announcement the co-founders have also acknowledged the challenges Pichai is facing, writing that he will now be accountable for taking Google forward and that they would act more as the proud parents of the world’s topmost IT company.

Unlike other Silicon Valley peers at Apple and Facebook, Larry Page has largely remained out of the public in recent years. He also stopped attending the company’s weekly meets and also skipped the annual shareholder meeting. In 2013, Page acknowledged a serious health condition that also affected his vocal cords.

Brin and Page hold a majority of the company’s voting power with them, meaning major decisions of the board anyway need their stamp of approval.

Larry Page has been CEO of Alphabet since its formation in the year 2015 and Pichai was then named Google CEO. Alphabet oversees other divisions of Google including X, from which the experimental projects emerge and has several investment arms.

Google was founded by Brin and Page in a garage near Stanford University in the year 1998, since then it has now grown into a $900 billion company that has touched nearly every corner of consumer life, from retail sales to autonomous cars to home automation to city planning. Google has the world’s most used browser, Chrome, and also the most ubiquitous mobile phone software, Android.

Pichai has been with Google since 2004. He has helped in the growth of Android operating software and the Chrome browser before he was given the responsibility of the Google as its CEO.