Google CEO Sundar Pichai Is New Alphabet Head As Co-Founders Page, Brin Step Down

Sundar Pichai, the man who led the teams that developed Google Chrome, Chrome OS and Google Drive, on Tuesday was promoted to CEO of Alphabet Inc., the conglomerate that owns Google LLC. He is Google's current CEO and will retain this position. He joined Google in 2004.

Pichai replaces Larry Page, one of Google's two founders, who announced his decision to depart this post on Tuesday. Sergey Brin, Google's other co-founder, will also step down as president of Alphabet. The position of Alphabet president will be eliminated.

This executive suite shake-up means Alphabet and Google will no longer have two CEOs and a President. Page became Alphabet CEO in 2015 when Google reorganized to form this conglomerate.

As CEO of both Google and Alphabet, Pichai will now be the executive responsible and accountable for leading Google, and managing Alphabet’s investment in the "Other Bets", which consists of Alphabet subsidiaries such as Verily and Calico.

Some analysts are calling the departure of Page and Brin the end of an internet era. Page and Brin co-founded Google in 1998 while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California. Page currently owns 5.8% of Alphabet shares while Brin controls 5.6%. They also both control 56 percent of the stockholder voting power through supervoting stock. Google said its voting structure won't change because of the new senior management moves.

In a blog post, both Page and Brin said that with Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, "it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure."

“We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company," they wrote.

Despite the reorganization, Page and Brin will remain “actively involved” as members of Alphabet’s board. They said they remain deeply committed to Google and Alphabet for the long term, and will remain actively involved as Board members, shareholders and co-founders.

"In addition, we plan to continue talking with Sundar regularly, especially on topics we’re passionate about!" they wrote.

They said Pichai brings "humility and a deep passion for technology" to its users, partners and employees. They noted they've worked closely with Pichai for 15 years on a bevy of projects that include the formation of Alphabet.

"He shares our confidence in the value of the Alphabet structure, and the ability it provides us to tackle big challenges through technology. There is no one that we have relied on more since Alphabet was founded, and no better person to lead Google and Alphabet into the future," said Brin and Page.