“What you do is boring”: why did the co -founder of Google Larry Page disappeared

Larry Page is gone. One of the founders of Google since 2013 has not appeared at events to launch new Google products and does not communicate with investors. Since 2015, Page has completely stopped communicating with the press. Even Google, who used to see Page, speak about his disappearance. Some note that the founder of the company is still engaged in business, developing the technologies of interest to him, but without solving the current issues of the corporation. Bloomberg Businessweek talked about what happened.

Boredom

• Page has recently not experienced interest in Google Management, Bloomberg sources say. When during the meetings the discussion of technology was replaced by talk about the intricacies of doing business, his eyes were “blurred”, the former top manager of the corporation recalls. “What you are doing is boring,” Page said at such moments.
• He is also of little interest in the internal affairs of the company. This is most clearly illustrated by his relationship with the so -called L Team (by the closest to Page by employees). When the last time they turned to him for advice in a controversial situation, he dismissed them with the words: "Can't you deal with it yourself?"
• The founder of Google is more to R&D than doing business. Now he takes only individual projects that arouse in it a special interest - for example, the development of a secret laboratory X, which is part of the maternal Alphabet.

Health problems

• Work at 80 hours a week affected Page’s health, two former vice president of the company told the publication. Due to the paralysis of the vocal cords, which he was diagnosed in the 1990s, the businessman later had to switch to a hoarse whisper. “Sergey says that I am probably the best general director because I choose my words more carefully,” Page wrote in the Google+ post in 2013.
• The former employee recalls how Page once had to shout at him because of the mistake made in his work, "as if he really had such an opportunity."

A series of failures

• In 2015, the reorganization of the company led to the fact that the Sundar Pichai Sundar became the general director of Google, and Page himself headed the ALPHABET head company. After that, Page actually had a pension: he retained control of Google, but at the same time delegated part of his duties in order to devote more time to the implementation of “crazy” and “extravagant” ideas.
• Among them were projects for the development of drones and robotics, the development of ultra -high -high Internet (Google Fiber) and the creation of a new transport system (Heliox). As part of the last project, the Page team built a pipe made of plastic the size of a subway car in a former NASA hangar, filled it with helium and oxygen. The cyclists in such a pipe should have moved faster.
• Since then, many of these projects, including Heliox, have closed. As the general director of Alphabet, Page was forced to reassure investors who were bothered by his futuristic ideas that were not related to the main business. As a result, it was decided to redistribute almost all the costs of the mother company in favor of Google.
• After that, Page's participation in Google Management was minimized, and his rare appearance in the office is now more like a royal visit: everything goes with the same exciting trepidation, one of the former employees recalls.

Google scandals

• When a large corporation is faced with serious reputation problems, its CEO begins to appear in a public field, which is trying by all means to improve the image of the company. Page, against the backdrop of Google presented by Google, on the contrary, disappeared from the field of view of the American public.
• The disappearance of the founder of Google is unhappy with the American authorities who interrogate representatives of IT giants on how their company could be used to intervene Russia in the US election. Page did not appear at the recent hearings in the Senate, which was attended by the head of Twitter Jack Dorsie and the operating director of Facebook Cheryl Sandberg. "I don't understand. After all, this will hit their reputation: not only the American authorities, but also Google users will look at them, ”Senator Mark Vorner was indignant.
• The last scandals with the participation of Google are added nervousness of the situation. In July, the European Union fined Google € 4.3 billion for abuse of monopoly positions in the operating systems market to promote its search and applications. In August, President Donald Trump accused Google of political engagement when issuing answers to requests for the activities of the head of state. Trump then said that Google in most cases offers users links to the media that are critical of the current administration.

A cunning plan

• The loss of Page is not only his personal choice, but also a carefully thought -out strategy of the company, Bloomberg sources say. Given the high share of Google in the search for the United States (about 70%) and the constant blows on the reputation of the company, the Google management considers the disappearance of Page from a public space. Top managers do not want him to repeat the fate of Tsuckerberg, Mask and Bill Gates, whose images, thanks to the media, have become caricatured.
• However, not everyone agrees with such a policy. One of the former investors of the company Roger Maknimi believes that the loss of Page before performing in the Senate, people considered a civic debt evasion. “You were invited to perform at the Senate hearings to protect our democracy, and your answer:“ We are too important to go. ” The whole world looks at them and thinks: “What the hell is it wrong with you? Who did you imagine yourself? "

Egor Sonin