Google Founders Sergey Brin And Larry Page Step Down From Top Roles
Google co-founders Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page announced Tuesday they are stepping down from their leadership roles but will remain board members of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
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Updated at 6:07 p.m. ET
Ending an era at the Internet’s biggest search company, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are leaving their leadership roles and CEO Sundar Pichai will become chief executive of both Google and its parent company, Alphabet.
Page is stepping down as CEO of Alphabet, while Brin is resigning as its president. They will remain board members of Alphabet, a company that oversees not just Google but also research into artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.
Page and Brin founded Google in 1998 when they were Stanford students. They made Google into one of the world’s largest, most profitable companies, dominating online search, digital advertising and video.
“We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company,” they wrote in a letter Tuesday. “And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President.”
In an email to Google employees, Pichai said that in his more than 15 years with Google, “the only constant I’ve seen is change. This process of continuous evolution — which the founders often refer to as ‘uncomfortably exciting’ — is part of who we are.”
The restructuring at the top of Google comes as at time of increased turmoil for the Internet giant.
Google, the company that was known for the motto “don’t be evil,” has been known for its open and freewheeling culture, with employees encouraged to speak out. But lately, management has been cracking down on dissent and criticism.
Google fired four engineers last week for accessing internal information. But the workers said they lost their jobs over their labor-organizing efforts. They said they will file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
Last year, thousands of Google workers around the world walked out in protest of sexual harassment and bad behavior by executives.
Google, along with Facebook and Amazon, is under scrutiny into whether it’s too powerful.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe are looking into how dominant Google is in search and advertising. Some critics are even calling for the company to be broken up. There’s no indication that any of this is connected to Page and Brin stepping aside. It’s just another sign of how the company is changing.
Page and Brin acknowledged that Google is no longer the same company they founded. “Since we wrote our first founders’ letter, the company has evolved and matured,” they wrote Tuesday.
White House Announces Program To Distribute Free HIV-Prevention Medication
The White House announced Tuesday it will begin distribution of free HIV-prevention medication to people without prescription drug coverage. It’s part of Trump’s plan to end HIV in the U.S. by 2030.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
President Trump has a plan to end HIV in America by 2030. And today, administration officials announced the first real-life program to help them get there. The program will provide a free HIV prevention drug to people who are at risk and who don’t have prescription drug coverage. Without insurance, the drug costs more than $20,000 a year. NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin has more.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: Over a million people are at risk for HIV infection, according to government estimates. But only a fraction of them are on PrEP, or preexposure prophylaxis. Truvada is the PrEP drug that’s been on the market for years now. The idea is you take this daily pill, and then if you’re exposed to HIV, you won’t get infected. It’s very effective. It doesn’t have a lot of side effects. But then there’s the monthly price tag.
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DANIEL O’DAY: The current list price is 1,780 in the United States.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: OK.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That’s Daniel O’Day testifying before Congress in May. He’s CEO of Gilead, the drug company that makes Truvada. A generic is available overseas for around $6 a month. The program announced today doesn’t change that U.S. price tag. Instead, it allows certain people to get the drug for free. Here’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar talking to reporters this morning.
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ALEX AZAR: To receive medication through the program, an individual must have no prescription drug coverage, test negative for HIV and have a valid on-label prescription for PrEP.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Azar says taxpayers will initially pay Gilead $200 per bottle for distribution. He said they’re trying to find a cheaper system. This all comes at a bit of an awkward moment for the government and the drugmaker. Last month, HHS sued Gilead over patent infringement.
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AZAR: We are now in litigation. Gilead has filed against us. We have filed against Gilead. This is not related in any way.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Prevention efforts with PrEP and other tools like condoms and clean needle programs are only part of the plan to end the HIV epidemic. It also calls for more HIV testing and for people who test positive to be on treatment. Nearly 40,000 people get infected with HIV every year. That works out to about 100 every day. And those numbers haven’t budged in years.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.
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An Intimate Story
Pauline Frechette’s latest collection of neo classical compositions reminds me of the first time I walked through the streets of Paris. Sure, I had an idea of what I would see, but there was nothing that…
A Second Can Mean So Much In A Football Game
At Saturday’s Iron Bowl, the first half seemed over. Then officials put a second back on the clock. Auburn used that second to kick a field goal, and they ended up beating Alabama by three.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I’m David Greene. A second can mean so much in football. At Saturday’s Iron Bowl, the first half seemed like it was over, then officials put a second back on the clock. Auburn used that second to kick a field goal, and they ended up beating Alabama by 3. Now an Auburn dean is rubbing it in. Joe Aistrup told professors they could add a single second to final exams. He wrote, when every second counts, Auburn men and women make great things happen.
Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
