Sundar Pichai named CEO at Google’s parent firm Alphabet

Google’s India-born Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai will assume the leadership role at its parent firm Alphabet after the internet giant’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down from its active management, making him one of the most powerful corporate leaders of the world.

Page and Brin are stepping down as CEO and president, respectively, of Alphabet, the company announced on Tuesday.

Pichai, 47, the current CEO of Google and a long time executive at the company, will take over as CEO of Alphabet in addition to his current role.

Considered as a significant shakeup in the Silicon Valley company, the shuffle comes at a time when Google is facing mounting scrutiny over its size, data privacy practices and potential impact on society.

With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and ‘Other Bets’ operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure, the two Google co-founders wrote in a public letter.

The leeter goes as such,”We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company,” they said. “And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President”.

Going forward, “Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet. He will be the executive responsible and accountable for leading Google, and managing Alphabet’s investment in our portfolio of Other Bets,” said Page and Brin”. The letter continues, “The co-founders will continue to serve on Alphabet’s board of directors. We are deeply committed to Google and Alphabet for the long term, and will remain actively involved as Board members, shareholders and co-founders”.