Google CEO Sundar Pichai will take over as CEO as Alphabet, Google's parent company, while maintaining his role as CEO of Google, the company announced on Tuesday.
Pichai will succeed Alphabet CEO Larry Page, who cofounded Google in 1998. Sergey Brin is also stepping down from his role as president of Alphabet. Brin and Page announced the shift in leadership in a blog post.
"With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it's the natural time to simplify our management structure," they wrote. "We've never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there's a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President."
Page became Alphabet's CEO in 2015, shortly after Google reorganized and established Alphabet as its parent company. Pichai stepped into the role of CEO of Google at the same time, following his meteoric rise to the top ranks of Google's leadership.
Page and Brin will remain members of Alphabet's board of directors going forward, according to a letter sent to investors. Both still have controlling voting shares of Alphabet.
"I'm excited about Alphabet and its long term focus on tackling big challenges through technology. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with Larry and Sergey in our new roles," Pichai said in a statement.
Pichai joined Google in 2006 as a search-bar engineer. One of his earliest achievements at the company was convincing Page and Brin to have Google build its own browser, Chrome, to compete with Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
