Sergey and I have been super excited about his progress and dedication to the company.
Advertisement
Google co-founder Brin will become president of Alphabet, and Eric Schmidt will be executive chairman. “Our company is operating well today, but we think we can make it cleaner and more accountable”. From the start, we’ve always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have.
“It suggests that in all likelihood, Google is not going to slow the pace of their experimental processes like self driving cars”, said Michael Yoshikami, head of Destination Wealth Management which has $1.5 billion under management.
Other units to be separated include the drone delivery project Wing, Google Fiber’s high-speed Internet, the home automation unit Nest and the investment arms of the California technology giant.
Google’s planned structure resembles the way companies like Berkshire Hathaway and General Electric are organized, with a central unit handling corporate-wide activities such as finance and relatively independent business units focused on specific areas.
“Sundar has been saying the things I would have said (and sometimes better!) for quite some time now”, Page wrote in a blog post announcing the changes.
Shares of Google will automatically be converted into the same number and type of shares in Alphabet stock. This means that pretty much everything that makes money will be grouped together, under the care of Sundar Pichai, who has previously been in charge of Android. The world’s largest Internet search provider is a frequent target by companies claiming it is violating their patents. “Search has been their cash cow for a long time”.
Sergey and I are seriously in the business of starting new things.
Trip Chowdhry at Global Equities Research called the move “very positive” because it increases transparency for investors.
If it did, the company, which is no stranger to disputes over intellectual property, might have to contend with legal fallout for potentially trampling on the trademark rights of what is a fairly common brand among American businesses. Page says his team will be able to focus on more ambitious projects, while improving Google proper though a more focused portfolio.
Advertisement
Both classes of the Mountain View, California, company’s stock rose more than 6 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement Monday afternoon.
