Google co-founders step down as executives of parent company Alphabet

The co-founders of Google are stepping down as executives of its parent company, Alphabet.

The move ends a remarkable two decades during which Larry Page and Sergey Brin shaped a start-up born in a Silicon Valley garage into one of the world’s largest, most powerful — and, increasingly, most feared — firms in the world.

Sundar Pichai, who has been leading Google as CEO for more than four years, will stay in his role and also become CEO of Alphabet.

Mr Page was Alphabet’s CEO, while Mr Brin was its president. The president’s role at Alphabet is not being filled.

Mr Page and Mr Brin, in announcing the news on Tuesday, said the company has “evolved and matured” in the two decades since its founding.

“Today, in 2019, if the company was a person, it would be a young adult of 21 and it would be time to leave the roost,” they said.

Alphabet — an umbrella corporation that the two created in 2015 — still boasts Google as its central fixture and key moneymaker.

But it is also made up of what are known as “other bets”, or longshot projects.

That includes drone company Wing and self-driving car firm Waymo.

Mr Page and Mr Brin both have been noticeably absent from Google events in the past year.

Both stopped making appearances at the weekly question-and-answer sessions with employees, and Mr Page did not attend this summer’s Alphabet shareholders meeting even though he was still in the CEO role.

Alphabet has been positioning Mr Pichai as the de facto leader for quite some time — making him the top executive voice at shareholders meetings, on earnings call and as a spokesman at congressional hearings.

Mr Pichai, 47, has worked at the company for 15 years, serving as a leader in projects to build the company’s Chrome browser and overseeing Android operating system.

Mr Pichai, who has an engineering background, took over as the head of Google’s products before being promoted to CEO when Alphabet was created.