Sundar Pichai becomes CEO of Google as Sergey Brin and Larry Page form a new company

Google’s senior vice president Sundar Pichai is becoming CEO of the search giant as the company restructures. Current CEO Larry Page announced the following in a statement:

A key part of this is Sundar Pichai. Sundar has been saying the things I would have said (and sometimes better!) for quite some time now, and I’ve been tremendously enjoying our work together. He has really stepped up since October of last year, when he took on product and engineering responsibility for our internet businesses. Sergey and I have been super excited about his progress and dedication to the company. And it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google. I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our aspirations.

The change comes as Google reveals a new operating strategy and the creation of an umbrella company called Alphabet. Larry Page says he will serve as CEO of the new company, with Sergey Brin taking on the role of president.

The 43-year-old Pichai rose quickly at Google, from working on Chrome to becoming second-in-command at the search company. He first got his start in 2004 on Google’s tool bar before becoming a product manager on Google’s Chrome browser under Marissa Mayer. After Chrome launched in 2008, Pichai was quickly promoted to vice president.

Before today’s announcement, Pichai was overseeing Chrome, Android, and Google Apps.