Why Google is now under Alphabet –
Kola-Ogunlade
on august 11, 2015 at 3:20 pm in news ,
technology
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By Ikenna Asomba
Search engine giant Google, recently named
Sundar Pichai as its Chief Executive Officer, thus
reorganizing under a new moniker, Alphabet. In
this interview with Google’s Communication and
Public Affairs Manager for Anglophone West
Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, he explained that
Google has not changed its name, but rather, has
only restructured to become a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Alphabet, adding that the
restructuring will enable the company to continue
to focus on creating opportunities for Nigerians
and Africa leverage on the worldwide web.
Excerpts:
Google has just been renamed Alphabet. What
necessitated this development?
The restructuring became imperative, given the
fact that Google is a company that makes big
bets. You will recall that we first started with
Search but then soon expanded to YouTube,
Android, self-driving cars, Calico, among others.
We have had a lot of success, but want to ensure
we’re enabling the fastest, most focused
innovation possible, through this recent
restructuring.
As Google continues to grow, we want to
empower the great leaders and employees we’ve
attracted to run their businesses in ways that
makes most sense to them.
From Google Inc to incubators and newer
projects, we think greater autonomy will
turbocharge everyone’s innovation, focus, and
velocity.
This restructuring will also free up time for
Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin
to be more ambitious, manage at scale, and
operate their businesses with greater
accountability.
Why did Google restructure now after 16 years of
being in operation?
We restructured now, because now have many
businesses that are quite independent, and may
have more in the future. So, we’re establishing
Alphabet to set us up for the future.
Alphabet will include Google Inc, independent
companies, incubation efforts, and our investment
arms-including Calico, Nest, Sidewalk Labs,
Ventures, Capital, X, Access & Energy
We want each of our Alphabet companies to
focus on their strengths and believe this new
structure provides much greater flexibility, which
we believe will lead to greater innovation, focus,
and speed.
Kola-Ogunlade
What happens to Google following this renaming?
Google Inc will be run by Sundar Pichai. He and
Larry Page have worked together closely over the
past decade, and in particular over the past year,
as Sundar took over Google products. Sundar is
extremely focused on driving the next wave of
innovation in Google’s businesses–Google
Photos, Cardboard, Google Now, and the
continued success of Chrome and Android are
great examples of the effects of his leadership.
How do you think this change in name will affect
Google’s penetration particularly in Nigeria and
Anglophone West-Africa, where you coordinate?
The Google name has not changed. It will only
become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet.
We will continue to focus on creating
opportunities for Nigerians and Africa leverage
the web for good. This new structure will allow us
to keep tremendous focus on the extraordinary
opportunities we have inside of Google to the
benefit of the region.
Who is Sundar Pichai, Google’s new CEO?
As Google’s chief executive officer, Sundar Pichai
is responsible for leading the overall product
development and innovation efforts, as well as
managing the company’s day-to-day-operations.
Sundar joined Google in 2004 and helped lead the
development of Google Toolbar and Google
Chrome, key consumer products which are now
used by hundreds of millions of people. In 2014
he took over product, engineering, and research
efforts for all of Google’s products and platforms.
This includes Search, Maps, Communications,
Google Play, Commerce, and Ads, as well as our
suite of cloud-based solutions for consumers,
businesses and education known as Google Apps
and Cloud Platform. He’s also responsible for two
of the most important platforms in computing
today—Android and Chrome. After years of
working closely with Google’s co-founders, Larry
Page and Sergey Brin, Sundar became Google’s
CEO in August 2015.
Before joining Google, Sundar held positions at
Applied Materials and McKinsey & Company.
Sundar received a bachelor’s degree from the
Indian Institute of Technology and was awarded
an Institute Silver Medal. He holds a master’s
degree from Stanford University and an MBA from
the Wharton School, where he was named a
Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
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