Google has made significant changes to its leadership in a reshuffle announced by CEO Sundar Pichai.
Thoughts are the reshuffle is due to ongoing criticism of Google’s search quality and the charges against it for monopolizing ads and breaking anti-trust laws.
Google`s CEO announces reshuffle in leadership
In a memo posted on October 17, Pichai announced that Nick Fox will replace Search chief and senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan, who will now become Google`s Chief Technologist.
Pichai’s announcement pitches it as a leap in Raghavan’s career rather than a change in leadership.
Raghavan gets a new position
Raghavan’s new role is precisely that: a newly created position with the title of Chief Technologist.
Pichai wrote on Google’s Keyword page Raghavan would partner closely with himself and direct the company’s tech growth culture.
- “Prabhakar has decided it’s time to make a big leap in his own career. After 12 years leading teams across Google, he’ll return to his computer science roots and take on the role of Chief Technologist. In this role, he’ll partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence.”
Pichai heaped praise on Raghavan’s contributions, saying they were remarkable:
- “Prabhakar’s leadership journey at Google has been remarkable, spanning Research, Workspace, Ads, and Knowledge & Information. He led the Gmail team in launching Smart Reply and Smart Compose as early examples of using AI to improve products, and took Gmail and Drive past 1 billion users.”
Nick Fox steps up
Stepping into Raghavan’s shoes is Nick Fox, who, until yesterday, was part of Raghavan’s team.
Fox, a long-serving Google executive who Pichai says helped launch numerous Google products, including RCS messaging and Google Fi, will now run Google’s Search, Ads, Geo, and commerce divisions.
Pichai said this about Nick Fox’s appointment:
- Nick Fox, a longtime Googler and member of Prabhakar’s leadership team, will be stepping up to lead K&I, which includes our Search, Ads, Geo, and Commerce products.
In Pichai’s announcement, he voiced confidence in Fox’s past leadership skills and ability across various Google divisions, saying:
- “Throughout his career, Nick has demonstrated leadership across nearly every facet of Knowledge & Information, from Product and Design in Search and Assistant, to our Shopping, Travel, and Payments products.”
Other teams merge
Google’s reshuffle goes beyond Raghavan’s old position with changes to teams lower down the ladder.
Google’s Assistant team will join Google’s devices and platforms team. The team that runs Google’s Gemini app will merge with Google DeepMind, led by CEO Demis Hassabis.
Between the lines
Google’s leadership and department reshuffle comes at a volatile time for the tech giant.
Google is in a competitive battle to establish itself as an AI leader, and US and EU courts have found it guilty of running search and advertising monopolies.
Besides imposing multi-billion-dollar fines on the tech giant, Google has been ordered to open its app store to rivals, and a US Judge is considering what actions to enforce, including breaking up the company.
As the saying goes, “There’s no smoke without fire,” so the leadership reshuffle could be an effort to redirect the company’s AI, search, and advertising strategies to address its technological and ongoing regulatory challenges.
