More than 20 years after launching Google out of a Menlo Park garage, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are relinquishing their executive roles at its parent company Alphabet (GOOGL).
Page and Brin are stepping down as CEO and president, respectively, of Alphabet, the company announced Tuesday. Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Google and a longtime executive at the company, will take over as CEO of Alphabet in addition to his current role.
The executive shuffle comes at a time when Google is facing mounting scrutiny. Regulators and politicians in the US and Europe have questioned the company’s size, data privacy practices and potential impact on society. Page, once the face of the company, has largely receded from public view.
Pichai, who is known for his engineering talents and general likeability, took over as CEO of Google in 2015 as part of the company’s broader corporate restructuring to create Alphabet. Prior that, Pichai had held a variety of roles at the company, including overseeing Chrome, product chief of Google and head of the Android operating system.
Brin and Page said they will remain “actively involved” as board members, shareholders and cofounders. They also said they plan to continue speaking with Pichai “regularly.”
