Adrian Wong, the former Google Glass lead electrical engineer who left the company last year to join Facebook-owned virtual reality startup Oculus, has quietly rejoined Google to work for parent company Alphabet, according to his LinkedIn page.
Wong left Google in May 2014 to work for Oculus, which Facebook bought that March for $2 billion. He was part of the team building the consumer version of the device.
At the time, Wong's departure from Glass was viewed as a high-profile poach by Facebook. It was also a blow to Glass, representing one of the first signs that Google's futuristic face-mounted computer was struggling to meet the high expectations placed on it.
It's not clear exactly what Wong is doing at Alphabet, which has not technically been created as the Google parent company yet (that's expected to happen later this year, though in practice Google's various divisions are already operating as if the restructuring has occurred).
On LinkedIn, Wong lists his new position at Alphabet simply as "Building Blocks," but his current tagline gives a little more color, with the phrase "G is for Gadgets, Glasses, and Goggles."
Wong rejoined Google in June (before Alphabet was officially announced), not long after Business Insider spotted Google job postings that indicated that the company could be planning to release other products in the Google Glass division, besides just the smart eyewear.
Google stopped selling the initial version of Glass in January, but is now reportedly planning to distribute a new specialized enterprise version for companies to use in the workplace.
Wong was also responsible for early recruiting for Oculus, which is prepping to release its first consumer product early next year.
We've reached out to Wong, Google and Facebook for comment and will update if we hear back.
