Google Co-founders Resign from Alphabet, Handover to CEO Sundar Pichai

President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his administration’s commitment to the security of lives and property of all Nigerians. He made the remark on Wednesday, at the launch of the country’s National Security Strategy document at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The President thanked the nation’s security agencies for contributing a lot towards ensuring a secured Nigeria. He said: “I am very pleased to note that the National Security Strategy of 2019 is a product of painstaking and rigorous deliberations by relevant stakeholders committed to the task of safeguarding our nation form both internal and external threats. “It represents a thoughtful, strategic and practical expression of our resolve to make Nigeria safe for development, investment, growth and prosperity for everybody. “The task that now lies before us is the execution of the strategy and the achievement of a safer and more secured nation. It is a task to which this administration remains fully and unreservedly committed.” The President assured citizens that government is working hard to address the security challenges confronting some parts of the country. “As we continue to work towards completely ending the insurgency in the North-East, and laying the foundations of sustainable peace and development in the region, we are also addressing conflicts between farmers and herders, banditry and various forms of security challenges.” The President, who stressed that his administration will not lose focus on its three-point agenda, listed education, healthcare and agriculture as part of his second term agenda. “In addition to security, economic diversification and fighting corruptions, our administration priorities for the second term include pursuing improvements in education, healthcare and agriculture. “These priorities reflect our commitment to enhancing the social security of Nigerians as a means of improving their physical security. I’m happy to observe that the National Security Strategy reflects this thinking with emphasis on overall human security,” the President stated. President Buhari noted that the 2019 National Security Strategy was a product of wide consultations that will go a long way in promoting public safety. He said: “I’m pleased also to know that the strategy emerged after a long time consultative and participatory process that elicited contributions primarily from our security, intelligence, law enforcement agencies and the armed forces. Other stakeholders such as ministries, department and agencies and the civil society were also contributory to this strategy. As such, this strategy will help us take government wide and society wide measures, designed to promote the public safety and the national security.” President Buhari said security is about bottom to top operation thus, failure at any level will lead to serious lapse in overall security. He therefore, called on all stakeholders from heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs, to see themselves as stakeholders and partners in the onerous task of securing “our people and to demonstrate unity of purpose in implementing this strategy.” The President also commended the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Mungonu (Rtd), and his team for delivering on the document. Highpoint of the event was the public presentation of the document on National Security by the President and Commander of Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari. Present at the launch of the document were members of the Federal Executive Council as well as Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu as well as Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege and the Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila. The document is reviewed every five years.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping down from their roles at the helm of parent firm Alphabet and handing the reins to current Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the company said Tuesday.

Pichai will take over from Page as CEO of the holding firm, a Silicon Valley titan that includes Google as well as units focused on “other bets” in areas including self-driving cars and life sciences.

Page and Brin, who is currently Alphabet president, “will continue their involvement as co-founders, shareholders and members of Alphabet’s board of directors,” the company said.

In a letter to employees, the two wrote: “We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company.”

They added that 46-year-old Pichai “brings humility and a deep passion for technology to our users, partners and our employees every day” and that there is “no better person to lead Google and Alphabet into the future.”

Alphabet was formed in 2015, giving separate identities to Google and newer projects such as autonomous car unit Waymo and smart cities group Sidewalk Labs.

Pichai, born in India, takes the helm at a time when Page and Brin, both 46, have been noticeably absent, and the company faces a torrent of controversies relating to its dominant position in the tech world.

“Google is the vast, vast majority of Alphabet in terms of revenues, profit and everything else, so why not put the guy doing a great job running all of that in charge of (the) whole company?” said Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research.

Investigations and controversies

Pichai is likely to fill a void at the company as it faces antitrust investigations and controversies over privacy and data practices in the United States and elsewhere.

The company has also faced allegations of failing to adequately address sexual harassment in the workplace and of straying from the ideals espoused by the founders in the company’s early code of conduct, which included the motto “don’t be evil.”

“He’s a technologist, but he’s been a steady hand for the last few years and has proven his ability to conduct business at the highest level,” said Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.

Kay added the move “ratifies that the (Google) founders have stepped aside almost entirely.”

Pichai will have a new role as he faces up to claims from President Donald Trump of “bias” in internet search results, and the latest charge from Amnesty International that Alphabet’s business model leads to human rights violations by enabling surveillance of users.

Earlier this year, Pichai met with Trump and appeared to ease the US president’s concerns that Google was unwilling to help the US military and was boosting China and its military.

Trump tweeted after the March meeting that Pichai was “totally committed” to US security.

Last December, Pichai kept calm while testifying in Congress as he parried US lawmakers over complaints of political bias and intrusive data collection.

“We build our products in a neutral way,” Pichai said in one exchange with a lawmaker, and added later: “We approach our work without any political bias.”

Chennai to Silicon Valley

Born to humble beginnings in the southern city of Chennai, Pichai studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur before heading to the United States to further his studies and career.

After leaving India, he attended Stanford University and later studied at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

In recent years, Alphabet has become one of the world’s most valuable companies, with a 2018 profit of some $30 billion on revenue of $136.8 billion.

The 2015 reorganization appeared aimed at installing the startup mentality for new ventures, described by Google as “moonshots.”

These ventures, including the life sciences group Verily and the biotech operation Calico, have been losing money.

Kay said the “other bets” have been struggling because even though they have the financial backing from Google’s profits, “they don’t have the do-or-die element” of other startups.

 

Source: AFP

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