Google has announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, the executive who oversees the company’s search engine and advertising products, will step down from his current role.
The news came Thursday in a memo from CEO Sundar Pichai to staff.
Nick Fox will lead search and ads
Taking over Raghavan’s responsibilities will be Nick Fox, a longtime Google executive with cross-departmental experience.
Fox will now lead the knowledge and information team, which includes Google’s search, ads, geo and commerce products.
Pichai expressed confidence in Fox’s ability to lead these crucial divisions, noting:
“Throughout his career, Nick has demonstrated leadership across nearly every facet of knowledge and information, from product and design in search and assistant to our Shopping, Travel and Payments products.”
Raghavan’s new role
Raghavan moves to the newly created position of Chief Technologist.
He will work closely with Pichai and other Google executives in this role to provide technical guidance.
Praising Raghavan’s contribution, Pichai said:
“Prabhakar’s leadership journey at Google has been remarkable, spanning research, workspace, ads, and knowledge and information. He led the Gmail team in launching Smart Reply and Smart Compose as early examples of using artificial intelligence to improve products, and he took Gmail and Drive past 1 billion users.”
Previous criticism
This latest announcement from Google comes in the wake of previous criticism of the company’s search division.
In April, an opinion piece by Ed Zitron highlighted concerns about the direction of Google Search under Raghavan’s leadership.
The article cited industry analysts who argued that Raghavan’s background in advertising, rather than search technology, had led to decisions that prioritized revenue over search quality.
Critics argued that during Raghavan’s tenure, Google had rolled back key quality improvements to boost engagement metrics and ad revenue.
Internal emails from 2019 were referenced. They described a “Code Yellow” emergency response to lagging search revenue when Raghavan was head of Ads. This reportedly resulted in boosting sites previously downgraded for using spam tactics.
Google has disputed many of these claims, maintaining that its advertising systems do not affect organic search results.
More restructuring
As part of Google’s restructuring:
- The Gemini app team, led by Sissie Hsiao, will join Google DeepMind under CEO Demis Hassabis.
- Google Assistant teams focused on devices and home experiences are moving to the Platforms & Devices division.
Looking ahead
Fox’s takeover from Raghavan could shake up Google.
We may see faster AI rollout in search and ads, plus more frequent updates. Fox may want to revisit core search quality and address recent criticism.
Fox can push for faster adoption of new technology to fend off competitors, especially in artificial intelligence. He is also likely to be more knowledgeable about legislative matters.
It is important to note that these potential changes are speculative based on the limited information available.
The actual changes in management style and priorities will become more apparent as Fox settles into his new role.
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