New Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Restructuring Announced: GOOG, GOOGL Shares Surge

Yesterday, former Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) Chief Executive Officer and new Alphabet CEO Larry Page announced in a press release that Google is restructuring itself by creating a new parent holding company, which he will lead. Sundar Pichai has been named as CEO of Google.

Under this new corporate structure, Google and other former “far afield” divisions, such as Life Sciences and Calico, will operate as separate wholly-owned subsidiaries of the new Alphabet holding company. Pichai will take lead of the Google brand, while others, such as YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, will continue to lead their respective divisions as companies.

Plans for the newly organized company include beginning segment reporting in the fourth quarter of 2015.

As reported by Business Insider India, Sundar Pichai first joined Google in 2004, where he began his career with the firm as a product manger for the Google Toolbar, successfully increasing the number of users until it reached “one in four” on the Web by 2006. This strong performance led to Pichai being named Google’s director of product development and then to vice president in 2011. Pichai is 43 years old and was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India. Mr. Pichai has attended IIT Kharagpur, Stanford University, and The Wharton School.

Larry Page wrote of Sundar Pichai and the Google restructuring.

“This new structure will allow us to keep tremendous focus on the extraordinary opportunities we have inside of Google. A key part of this is Sundar Pichai. Sundar has been saying the things I would have said (and sometimes better!) for quite some time now…”

The news of the restructuring and Pichai’s appointment as CEO has vaulted both GOOG and GOOGL shares close to all-time prices highs last observed after the company’s blowout second quarter earnings report. Holders of both classes of the publicly traded shares will receive one share of stock in the new Alphabet company for each share they own. Both shares are trading up about 3.7 percent on heavy volume as of 1 p.m.

It is reported that Pichai’s salary was increased to $50 million in October 2014. At the time it was said to be a “desperate” move on the part of Google management to keep Pichai from being poached by competitors. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) are reported to have each attempted to lure Mr. Pichai away from Google.

Pichai is known as a “team player” and is well-liked among his employees and former peers. An unnamed co-worker was quoted in regard to Pichai, “He got s*** done without alienating the entire company.”

[Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images]