The co-founders of Google are stepping down as executives of its parent company, Alphabet.
The move ends a remarkable two decades during which Larry Page and Sergey Brin shaped a start-up born in a Silicon Valley garage into one of the world's largest, most powerful – and, increasingly, most feared – companies in the world.
Sundar Pichai, who has been leading Google as chief executive for more than four years, will stay in his role and also become chief executive of Alphabet.
Mr Page was Alphabet’s chief executive, while Mr Brin was its president. The president’s role at Alphabet is not being filled.
Both founders promised they plan to stay actively involved as board members and shareholders, and lauded Mr Pichai for his leadership of Google.
Mr Page and Mr Brin, in announcing the news on Tuesday, said the company has “evolved and matured” in the two decades since its founding.
“Today, in 2019, if the company was a person, it would be a young adult of 21 and it would be time to leave the roost,” they said.
Alphabet – an umbrella corporation that the two created in 2015 – still boasts Google as its central fixture and key moneymaker. It is also made up of what are known as "other bets", or long-shot projects. These include drone company Wing, and self-driving car firm Waymo.
Noticeably absent
Mr Page and Mr Brin both have been noticeably absent from Google events in the past year.
Both stopped making appearances at the weekly question-and-answer sessions with employees, and Mr Page did not attend this summer’s Alphabet shareholders’ meeting, even though he was still in the chief executive role.
Alphabet has been positioning Mr Pichai as the de facto leader for quite some time – making him the top executive voice at shareholders’ meetings, on earnings call and as a spokesman at congressional hearings.
Mr Pichai (47), has worked at the company for 15 years, serving as a leader in projects to build the company's Chrome browser and overseeing the Android operating system.
Mr Pichai, who has an engineering background, took over as the head of Google’s products before being promoted to chief when Alphabet was created. – Associated Press
