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KIT31XXA-C-21DEC00-BU-KR
\nLarry Page the Chief executive of GOOGLE in his office with his computer screans in the background and holding a RIM Blackberry 957 .Photo by Kurt Rogers<\/p>\n
Kurt Rogers \/ The Chronicle 2000<\/p>\n
Welcome back to Tech Chronicle. If you want to know your tech ABCs, go on and subscribe.<\/p>\n
\u2018A\u2019 is for \u2018abdication\u2019<\/p>\n
I remember getting summoned to Stanford University in June 1999 for a press conference about a startup getting funding, which constituted news back then. It actually was remarkable: Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital, two archrival investors that usually tried to elbow each other out of deals, were both investing money<\/a> in a new company called Google.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After I published my story, I quickly got a note from one of the co-founders about his exact title. Larry Page wanted me to know that he, not Sergey Brin, was the company\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n GOOGLE25C-C-24AUG00-BU-LS —- FROM LEFT:Larry Page, CEO and co-founder of Google, and Sergey Brin, President and co-founder of Google. Page and Brin enjoy their lunch with Google employees in the cafe at Google. Photo By Lea Suzuki<\/p>\n Lea Suzuki \/ The Chronicle 2000<\/p>\n Page stalled his investors for a while<\/a>, but eventually they insisted \u2014 this seems quaint now, in the age of wunderkind founders who must be coddled in the CEO seat \u2014 that he and Brin bring in adult supervision in the form of experienced technology executive and Burning Man regular Eric Schmidt. But I thought about that email and Page\u2019s attachment to the title, over the years as Schmidt and Page and Brin formed an awkward triumvirate. I thought about it in 2011 when Schmidt quit that job and Page became CEO<\/a> again.<\/p>\n ** FOR RELEASE WEEKEND SEPT. 6-7 — FILE ** In this Jan. 15, 2004 file photo, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, top, and co-founders Sergey Brin, left, and Larry Page are seen at company headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. When Page and Brin founded Google Inc. on Sept. 7, 1998, they had little more than their ingenuity, four computers and an investor’s $100,000 bet on their belief that an Internet search engine could change the world. (AP Photo\/Ben Margot, file)<\/p>\n Ben Margot \/ Associated Press 2004<\/p>\n His assumption of responsibility didn\u2019t last. In 2015, Google Inc. became Alphabet, Page became Alphabet\u2019s CEO, and Sundar Pichai, already in charge of the all-important search engine, was elevated to Google CEO.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n On Tuesday, Page stepped down as Alphabet CEO and put Pichai in his place, overseeing the various spin-offs and research projects that are housed alongside Google, like driverless-car operator Waymo and health care company Verily.<\/p>\n Page\u2019s abdication comes as his creation seems beyond any one person\u2019s control. At Google, unrest among employees<\/a> is growing amid a crackdown on its policy of open communications.<\/p>\n GOOGLE25A-C-24AUG00-BU-LS —- FROM LEFT: Eric Fredrickson, software engineer at Google, exchanges pleasantries with Larry Page, CEO and co-founder of Google, they get their lunch at the cafe at Google. Photo By Lea Suzuki<\/p>\n Lea Suzuki \/ The Chronicle 2000<\/p>\n YouTube, which is run as part of Google, seems helpless if not straight-up unwilling to deal with the unwelcome videos among the 500 hours that users post every minute. Asked by Lesley Stahl on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d Sunday why YouTube recommended videos peddling medical myths and racial superiority<\/a>, Susan Wojcicki, the Google executive who runs the video site, said, \u201cWell, our systems wouldn’t work without recommending\u201d videos.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n No wonder Page seems bored. Two decades in, Google is a tautology. It searches the Web because it searches the Web. It sells ads because it sells ads. It recommends videos because it recommends videos. It\u2019s still organizing the world\u2019s information, as Page and Brin once envisioned, but to what purpose, other than ringing up more money? It\u2019s become a monolith unmoored from a mission.<\/p>\n ** FILE ** Google co-founders Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin are seen at their company’s headquarters Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004, in Mountain View, Calif. Google has asked federal regulators to give final approval to the paperwork required for its stock sale. If the Securities and Exchange Commission approves, Google can close the auction that’s determining the share price and notify successful bidders as early as 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2004 (AP Photo\/Ben Margot)<\/p>\n Ran on: 08-29-2004 Ben Margot \/ Associated Press 2004<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear what Page will do next. His best-known side venture, investing in electric flying cars, also seems to be veering off course. As Forbes reported<\/a>, his company Kitty Hawk has folded one of its projects into a joint venture with Boeing; the startup has returned buyers\u2019 deposits for another project which was supposed to deliver personal flying vehicles this year.<\/p>\n Want to get the latest on Silicon Valley in your inbox? Subscribe to Tech Chronicle.<\/p>\n I do have one suggestion for Pichai: Drop the Alphabet name. The business is still overwhelmingly concentrated in search and advertising, and that\u2019s what Google does. None of the \u201cother bets,\u201d as Page dubbed Waymo and the other spin-offs and acquisitions, show signs of becoming a money-spinner on the scale of the original business. In fact, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see Pichai shut several of them down, or sell them off. It would be a clear way of showing that he, and not Page, really is CEO.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u2014 Owen Thomas, othomas@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have much of a PR team at Tesla.\u201d \u2014 Tesla CEO Elon Musk, testifying<\/a> in his defamation trial in Los Angeles Tuesday, via BuzzFeed News reporter Ryan Mac<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On Thursday, San Jose\u2019s Zoom reports earnings. The video chat company has been one of the better-performing newly public stocks this year, though its shares have slid since a July peak.<\/p>\n Cory Weinberg on a new wave of cost-cutting that\u2019s sweeping through unicorns like Airbnb. (The Information<\/a>)<\/p>\n Mallory Moench on Bay Area supercommuters (who could really use those Kitty Hawk electric fliers already). (San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>)<\/p>\n Caroline Haskins on Ring\u2019s journey from \u201cShark Tank\u201d reject to Amazon-owned peddler of a mass surveillance system. (Vice<\/a>)<\/p>\n Tech Chronicle is a thrice-weekly newsletter from Owen Thomas<\/a>, The Chronicle\u2019s business editor, and the rest of the tech team. Follow along on Twitter: @techchronicle<\/a> and Instagram: @techchronicle<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nProfessor Leonard Herzenberg of Stanford’s Department of Genetics, in his laboratory with Katharine Ku, director of the university’s Office of Technology Licensing, sits beside a fluorescence-activated cell sorter machine. The lab’s work with functional antibodies garnered $61 million in licensing fees.
\nRan on: 12-03-2006
\nGoogle Inc. co-founders Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin have built a Silicon Valley juggernaut that employs 9,000.
\nALSO Ran on: 12-03-2006
\nGoogle Inc. co-founders Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin have built a Silicon Valley juggernaut that employs 9,000.<\/p>\n