I don't much care about throwing the codeword "unbiased" in there, it's just pandering to critics and their nonsense talking points.
Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
261–270 of 637 posts
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#262https://abc.xyz/investor/news/releases/2019/1203/ Slightly more organized info in the intro bullets. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the CEO and President, respectively, of Alphabet, have decided to leave these roles. They will continue their involvement as co-founders, shareholders and members of Alphabet’s Board of Directors.
I'm curious what their continued involvement will look like. For a while after Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, there was this awkward tension where Steve Balmer was CEO, but people still treated Bill like he was the one in control -- because he was.
Awkward tension? WTF is this middle school?
Money goes up. Hell flows down. No need to complicate business.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#263Seems like “interesting“ timing given that the Alphabet board just recently stated they’re investigating the handling of sexual misconduct by executives: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/technology/google-sexual-... And relatedly: > Charlie Ayers: Sergey’s the Google playboy. He was known for getting his fingers caught in the cookie jar with employees that worked for the company in the masseuse room. He got around.…
That's years old news.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is something that I kind of admire about Bill Gates: As Microsoft's boss he was ruthless, and even anti-competitive, all to benefit his own company. But somehow, he is one of the "best type of person" that could become the richest man in our world. There are so many rich people that just look to be buried with their millions or pass it to their family. Hopefully Sergei and Larry will try to get the same type of…
So Gates is not alone. Buffet and Ellison have both pledged the vast majority of their wealth to the Gates Foundation. Somewhat unique to the US, our billionaires tends to be fairly philanthropic.
And now imagine a society in which it would not be decided by self-proclaimed "philantropists" where societal progress is made and which basic human needs (like a roof over the head of every person, or kids having a lunch at school instead of being shamed for parents too poor to pay) are met, but instead the super rich pay their fair share in taxes and society decides democratically.
US billionaires are only philantropic because they don't want to end up either dead or stripped off of all their assets when there is any kind of revolution - no matter if a "real" revolution or an elected one, e.g. if Warren or Sanders win in 2020.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you are misreading it, I am not judging Sergei and Larry negatively.... What I am saying is that their decision makes total sense, and there is no reason to chide on them on 'why they are not dealing with the employe' problems, but quitting' as the OP did. Really, this is just a: Peace out guys, we are moving on... And there is nothing wrong with it, as google is not really dealing with an existential threat…
I judge them pretty negatively. People like Bezos, Jobs, or even Gates never really spent so much time building this PR image of being for the greater good, holier-than-though, "making the world a better place." Everyone knows "don't be evil", but how about their recruiting catch phrase "do cool things that matter." Even the "not a conventional company" tag line is relevant here. Hypocrites just irk me more than peop…
The difference between Amazon and Google is that google controls access to information and in some respects can shape public opinion. When Bezos gets greedy, its through some better product like faster cheaper shipping.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#266Seems like “interesting“ timing given that the Alphabet board just recently stated they’re investigating the handling of sexual misconduct by executives: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/technology/google-sexual-... And relatedly: > Charlie Ayers: Sergey’s the Google playboy. He was known for getting his fingers caught in the cookie jar with employees that worked for the company in the masseuse room. He got around.…
That's years old news.
The investigation of executives to fend off shareholder lawsuits is less than a month old...
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#267A well deserved congratulations to Sundar's promotion! Larry and Sergey have spent the majority of their time on Other Bets for quite some time now, and it's good to see that this is finally being solidified / recognized within Alphabet's management structure.
I thought the entire point of Alphabet was the "Other Bets" than Google.
So now the CEO of "Other Bets" is also the CEO of the main bet... so what's even the point of separating the companies other than the tax dodge? oh, right.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#268Weirdly this feels like a non-issue. Google has not felt like it has a "personality" for some time - maybe it's a function of hitting mega-corporate size, but it also feels a bit like when Microsoft (a Computer on every Desktop) essentially achieved its goal, it then spent a decade in "goalless and soulless exploitation" mode - something that one suspects is the next step for the worlds largest personality-free platf…
Ironically, they could find some focus by no longer being a one size fits all search engine, and instead offer different search products for different types of users, or focused on different types of information. They do to an extent with travel data, financial data, scholar, but their product just isnt great at crawling the web anymore. They, like Apple and Microsoft, also need some consumer experience advocates, wh…
> Ironically, they could find some focus by no longer being a one size fits all search engine
Or just fixing the search engine that they do have. It really has become shockingly poor.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is something that I kind of admire about Bill Gates: As Microsoft's boss he was ruthless, and even anti-competitive, all to benefit his own company. But somehow, he is one of the "best type of person" that could become the richest man in our world. There are so many rich people that just look to be buried with their millions or pass it to their family. Hopefully Sergei and Larry will try to get the same type of…
So Gates is not alone. Buffet and Ellison have both pledged the vast majority of their wealth to the Gates Foundation. Somewhat unique to the US, our billionaires tends to be fairly philanthropic.
Larry Ellison? From Oracle? I though he did the opposite.
Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like the idea of the "don't be evil" rule, but it always seemed overly naive / simplistic to me. Even without factoring in self-justifying rationalizations, people can have significantly different ideas of what counts as evil.
"Don't be evil" is perfect because of how simple it is. It's supposed to be common sense. > people can have significantly different ideas of what counts as evil. And those people, who need someone to explain to them what is or isn't evil, aren't welcome. That's why I personally loved that motto. Too bad that whole ethos got dropped like it was a recently-launched product.
This topic fascinates me, but I haven't found a way to productively discuss it on HN.
If you too find it interesting, you may enjoy doing a literature search on the topic.