Liz Gannes

Recent Posts by Liz Gannes

What Is Google's New CEO Thinking? His CFO Will Tell You.

Google could have taken the opportunity to soar above the ongoing gossip by addressing the huge changes it is going through, what with Larry Page earlier this month reclaiming the chief executive spot to reinvigorate the company he founded.

Instead, Page jumped on and off the call within the span of two minutes, handing it over to a bevy of polite lieutenants who mostly referred to the press release and fended off financial analysts’ questions about why the company’s high costs are dragging down its profit.

It seemed like the perfect time for Page, whose ascension to CEO had been publicly and privately expected for a while, to set the stage for his new regime. But Page, who disdains the public eye, declined to meet those expectations.

CFO Patrick Pichette, asked by an analyst to comment on the Page changeover, replied, “In short, the company’s position has not changed. Google is a technology company focused on users and looking for products that can affect billions of people.”

Today, Google seemed passive and even disorganized. An earnings slideshow meant to support the call failed to load, and the call itself was conducted using RealPlayer and Windows Media instead of the more accessible (and Google-owned!) YouTube, which had been used in recent quarters.

And the company still hasn’t updated its management page, despite acknowledgment through news reports (including on this site) that internal responsibilities have significantly changed in the last two weeks.

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