Appointments
Larry Page steps down; Sundar Pichai to lead both Alphabet, Google as CEO
By Mark Bergen
The Google founders’ decision to step down ends a multiyear effort to turn their company into the Berkshire Hathaway of technology by embracing Warren Buffett’s hands-off management style.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin created the Alphabet Inc. holding company in 2015 to give themselves more time to invest in new tech businesses and handed responsibility for Google to Sundar Pichai. The model was inspired by Buffett’s approach of allocating capital to disparate businesses and letting independent CEOs decide how to run the operations.
On Tuesday, the Google founders effectively unwound this structure by making Pichai chief executive officer of both Google and Alphabet. Pichai was already busy running Google’s gargantuan digital advertising businesses and responding to antitrust probes, political assaults and protesting workers. Now the self-driving cars, health-care projects, digital cities, delivery drones and internet-beaming balloons are his problem, too.
For many at the company, Alphabet’s purpose and structure was never really clear. Placing the head of Google, which contributes more than 99% of Alphabet’s sales, at the helm of it could call into question the entire purpose of Alphabet, one former Google senior employee said. Another former Google executive said the change will mean Pichai is stretched even more thinly. They asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
Financially, Alphabet was a win because it showed investors that the company wasn’t spending too much on ambitious “moonshot” projects, while highlighting the huge profitability of the main Google business.
But operationally, the structure has been in near-constant tumult and has struggled to produce a new business remotely close to Google in size and scope. Collectively, the company’s “Other Bets,” which include Waymo driverless cars and Verily health-care tech, lost $3.4 billion in 2018 and almost $1 billion in the latest quarter.
Nest, a smart-device maker, started out as a standalone Alphabet company but moved into Google’s hardware division last year. Pichai also brought many of DeepMind’s ambitious artificial intelligence projects into Google’s fold. Chronicle, a cybersecurity project, debuted with considerable fanfare as an independent Alphabet business last year — only to be subsumed into Google’s cloud division in June. Fiber, once a high-profile Other Bet, is no longer expanding.
Some current and former Google staff interpreted Pichai’s ascent as a sign of stronger corporate governance coming to the company’s nascent enterprises. Page and Brin, revered for their visionary technical ideas, were rarely praised for their managerial skills.
“Within Alphabet, Google was always the tail that wags the dog. That’s where all the money and employees are,” said Vineet Buch, a partner at Firebolt Ventures who was a product management director at Google for more than eight years until late 2018. “This may mean that the Other Bets have to start really functioning as businesses and there won’t be a two-tier system where Google is run as a business and the other projects have infinite time horizons to reach profitability.”
Buch cited Nest as the best example of how Pichai will run Alphabet and Google going forward. The smart home device maker was initially hailed as a prototype of an independent Alphabet business, with its own CEO, marketing department and even email addresses. But it struggled to release products on time and the CEO left. “When Nest was brought back within Google, the rate at which Nest shipped products, and the viability of those products, went up,” Buch said.
The fact that Page and some of his deputies active in the Other Bets group — such as Alphabet’s longtime lawyer David Drummond — have avoided speaking to shareholders also created some confusion on Wall Street.
“Going forward, the story is much simpler: Sundar is the only sheriff in town,” analysts at Evercore ISI wrote in a note on Tuesday. Drummond will now report to Pichai as the head of Alphabet.
The new sheriff was keen to downplay his larger role. “I want to be clear that this transition won’t affect the Alphabet structure or the work we do day to day,” Pichai wrote in an email to staff on Tuesday.
Source: Bloomberg
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s leading communications solutions provider, today announced the appointment of Naval Seth as the Head of Investor Relations. In this role, Naval will spearhead Airtel’s representation amongst investors, lenders, equity partners, & financial institutions and will report to Soumen Ray, Chief Financial Officer.
Welcoming Naval to the role, Soumen Ray, Chief Financial Officer, Bharti Airtel said: “We are delighted to have Naval with us. His deep relationships with the investment community, strong subject knowledge in Equity Research and Capital Markets will add immense value to the company as we steer ahead in our growth journey. I wish Naval the very best”
Naval joins Airtel from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited where he was Deputy Head of Research. Prior to that, he had worked with ICICI Securities Limited. Naval brings with him over 14 years of experience in Equity Research and Capital Markets. He has a deep research experience across both B2B and B2C facing businesses along with a trusted relationship with the investment community.
Over the years, Naval has been recognized for in-depth and differentiated research across the sectors- Telecom, Media and Consumer Discretionary. He has also been consistently voted by institutional investors and also ranked in Asia Money polls.
NEW DELHI: Taiwanese tech giant – ASUS, today, announced the appointment of Tribhuwan Joshi as Lead – Corporate Communications, PR and CSR, Consumer and ROG PC Business, ASUS India. He will oversee communications and brand reputation practice for ASUS’ consumer, lifestyle, and gaming device segments in the Indian market.
Commenting on the appointment, Paramjeet Singh Mehta, Marketing Head Consumer PC & Gaming, Systems Group at Asus India, said “As we continue to invest in talent, we are focused on identifying and providing opportunities to people where they can have the greatest impact on our business. Tribhuwan is a welcome addition to our team. His rich experience and in-depth understanding will help us in elevating the amazing work that we have been doing across the country.”
Tribhuwan will be driving Integrated Communications Strategy, Reputation Management, Brand Communications CSR Initiatives, Influencer & KOL Management for corporate & consumer campaigns, and drive market-specific campaigns for ASUS India. He has over 15 years of cross-functional experience across corporate and agencies. He has looked after communications strategy for some renowned organizations including Fujifilm India, HTC India, Panasonic India, Anchor by Panasonic, MSL Group India, and Team Orange PR.
On the announcement, Tribhuwan Joshi, Head – Corporate communications, PR and CSR, Consumer and ROG PC Business, ASUS India said, “It has been an absolute delight to have been associated with a robust brand like ASUS, which has been one of the leaders in the technology space. I am thrilled and ecstatic to embark upon this new journey and responsibility. I keenly look forward to working with the leadership team in strengthening the brand and its communications approach, while being devoted to exploring the best for the company’s growth.”
NEW YORK: Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American technology executive, is helping out Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk as he revamps the social media giant following its acquisition by the billionaire entrepreneur.
Krishnan is a general partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Now that the word is out: I’m helping out @elonmusk with Twitter temporarily with some other great people. I (and a16z) believe this is a hugely important company and can have a great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen, Krishnan tweeted.
Krishnan added that he is still very much in my day job at @a16zcrypto. If you’re a crypto founder, you know how to find me!.
According to his profile on Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Krishnan invests in early-stage consumer startups and serves on the boards of companies Bitski, Hopin, and Polywork.
Prior to joining a16z, Chennai-born Krishnan held numerous senior product roles and most recently, he led core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth, his profile said.
Previously, he created and oversaw various mobile ad products for Snap and Facebook, including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising, his profile said. Krishnan started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure.
Author of “Programming Windows Azure” published by O’Reilly, he also co-hosts with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy The Good Time Show’ on Clubhouse, a nightly show through which they interview innovators around tech and culture.
He is an alumnus of SRM Engineering College, Anna University where he did his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Information Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Last week, Musk completed the USD 44 billion acquisition of Twitter and ousted chief executive Parag Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
Musk, according to reports, plans to rethink the company’s content moderation policies and permanent bans for users who previously violated the platform’s policies, including former President Donald Trump, although he said over the weekend that no major decisions have been made yet. He also is reported to be planning large layoffs at the company.
Musk has said the process of gaining a prestigious “blue tick” will be revised. Reports said the firm could start charging USD 20 per month to be verified. Many of Twitter’s most prominent verified users said they would leave if it tried to implement the plan.
Stephen King, an American author, tweeted: “USD 20 a month to keep my blue check? F that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.
Hours later, Musk replied to King: We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about USD 8?
A blue tick is currently free and a way of signalling an account is authentic. While there has been no official confirmation of the plan, on Monday Musk appeared to acknowledge the speculation in a new tweet which said: “On no, all our diabolical plans have been revealed!!”
In a separate development, Musk has denied a New York Times report that he plans to lay off Twitter workers before the start of next month to avoid having to make payouts.
The New York Times reported that Musk had ordered major job cuts across Twitter’s workforce.
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were being asked to “draw up lists of employees to cut.
The newspaper said the layoffs would take place before November 1, when workers were due to receive grants of shares in the company as a major part of their pay deals. But replying to a Twitter user asking about the report, he said: “This is false.”
The takeover has prompted discussion among Twitter users over what the platform will look like under Musk’s ownership, the BBC said.
Some have voiced concerns that more lenient free speech policies would mean people banned for hate speech or disinformation may be allowed back to the platform.
Source: Press TRust of India
