Google has named a new CEO but instead of replacing co-founder Larry Page, he’ll be running the company alongside him.
Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google on Monday, while Page assumed command of Alphabet, a new holding company of which the search giant will be a part. The company announced the shift of its corporate structure in a blog post on Monday, which sent its share value up from $633 to $667 in after-hours trading.
“Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies,” Page explained in the announcement. “The largest of which, of course, is Google. This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main internet products contained in Alphabet instead.”
Life sciences projects of Google X Lab is one example of what will be managed as part of Alphabet. The Google stock ticker will not change, though shares will now be sold through Alphabet — a move that could ease concerns that the tech company is more focused on new innovations than its core business.
The name of the umbrella company has special meaning to Page and co-founder Sergey Brin. “We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s most important innovations,” Page wrote. Google began 11 years ago as a search engine, and was so successful that it was able to branch out into other, “moonshot” innovations, or cutting edge projects that aren’t necessarily meant to be sold as mainstream consumer products.
These include the Google Glass smart visor, contact lenses that detect diabetes and a wristband that can monitor a patient’s health. Pichai , who was formerly a senior vice president in charge of Google’s Chrome and Android products, will now manage search, ads, maps, the Google Play Store, YouTube and Android.
It is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google,” Page wrote in the announcement. I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our aspirations.”
“From the start, we’ve always strived to do more and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have,” Page added.
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