Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google and currently CEO and president of parent company Alphabet, are stepping down from their positions. The two will remain on the board of directors. Sundar Pichai, the current Google CEO, will also become Alphabet CEO.
Page and Brin write in an open letter that it has now been 21 years since Google was founded and that the company is now ‘young adult’. According to the two founders, it is therefore time to let go of day-to-day management and leave it to others.
The two remain involved with the company as shareholders and as members of the board of directors. Alphabet’s management is simplified; Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Google, will also become the CEO of Alphabet. He also maintains the top position at Google.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both 46, founded Google in 1998. The two remained closely involved in running the company, even after Eric Schmidt was hired as CEO in 2001. For example, Page arranged the acquisition of Android in 2005. During his Google tenure, Brin was deeply involved in the development of Google Glass and the autonomous car efforts.
In 2011, Page decided to take over the leadership of Google again. He held the position of CEO again until 2015. In that year, the company reorganized and Alphabet was established as an umbrella organization. Page has since been CEO of Alphabet with Brin as president. Sundar Pichai was hired as CEO for Google at the time. After the founding of Alphabet, Page and Brin have mainly worked in the background and no longer sought publicity.