Liz Gannes

Recent Posts by Liz Gannes

GoogQuake: The Larry Page Reorg Promotes Top Lieutenants to SVP

Google on Thursday formally promoted the six executives new CEO Larry Page has put in charge of its new core product areas. Sundar Pichai is now senior vice president of Chrome, Vic Gundotra is SVP of social, Andy Rubin SVP of mobile, Salar Kamangar SVP of YouTube and video, Alan Eustace SVP of search and Susan Wojcicki SVP of ads.

A spokesperson for Google confirmed the reorganization and called it a formalization of what had been anticipated since earlier this year when Page started rethinking and taking over Google’s business.

DigitalDaily’s John Paczkowski had written as much in a story earlier this week. The Los Angeles Times is also reporting the reorganization.

The six promoted executives replace Jonathan Rosenberg, the SVP of product management who announced he was leaving the company this week. Of them, Eustace was previously an SVP, in charge of engineering and research, and Wojcicki had recently held the title SVP of product management.

In a bid to revitalize the company, Page has placed himself in a hands-on role at the center of the organization. Each business unit is set up to run as its own independent start-up, as an alternative to the more horizontal division of labor under Rosenberg and former CEO Eric Schmidt.

The Google spokesperson declined to comment on what the shake-up implied for other current top executives, which include Nikesh Arora, Shona Brown, David Drummond and Patrick Pichette.

According to a source who was present for festivities celebrating the promotions today, spirits and expectations are running high. Which makes sense, because it was a party.

Update: Google clarified that it is calling the teams “core product areas” rather than “business units,” as we had originally stated.

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work