Alphabet CEO Larry Page announced on Tuesday that he would step down from his position. Google CEO Sundar Pichai will take over as CEO of the parent company in addition to his current role. Co-founder Sergey Brin will also leave his position as president of Alphabet, and the role will be eliminated.
Alphabet’s stock rose 0.8% after the stock market closed.
“With Alphabet now well established and Google and the other bets operating effectively as independent companies, it is time to simplify our management structure,” Page and Brin wrote in a blog post announcing the change. «We have never been the type to hold on to leadership roles when we believe there is a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a president.»
Page became CEO of Alphabet in 2015 when Google reorganized to form the new parent company to oversee its “Other Bets” outside of its core search and digital advertising businesses. Page had previously been CEO of Google. Under the new structure, Pichai became CEO of Google after effectively running much of the company while Page stepped back to focus on company-wide efforts. Pichai had previously led Android and Chrome within the company.
