Facebook Grabs Google’s Chrome OS Architect

Facebook may not have Google’s deep pockets, but with hundreds of millions in funding and about $1 billion in yearly revenue, it’s doing pretty well. Enough to snatch one of Google’s top engineers, at least, and at the worst possible time for the search company. Facebook has now hired Matt Papakipos, the Chrome OS project leader, just months before the upcoming operating system is slated for launch.

The move has been confirmed by both Google and Facebook, both of which maintained a civil tone, though Google’s message was not without some subtleties.

“Matthew Papakipos has indeed joined Facebook. Matthew is an accomplished entrepreneur and engineer, and it’s wonderful that he has decided to bring his considerable talents to Facebook’s world-class engineering team,” Facebook has confirmed the hire.

“Matt made great contributions to Google and Chrome OS, and we know he’ll do the same in his next endeavors. We wish him the best. We have a deep bench of talent and are very excited about the launch of Chrome OS devices later this year,” Google told TechCrunch.

Papakipos says he believes that Chrome OS is baked enough for it to not need his supervision, but losing a project leader just when you’re about to launch can’t be good for the product. “Now that Chrome OS & WebGL are in good shape, it's time for something new. I'm going to work @ Facebook! Love the product and team. Woot!,” Papakipos tweeted, announcing the move.

So what does this mean for Chrome OS? Probably not much, Google is making assurances that the operating system is still on track, but what else are they going to say, and implies that its “deep bench of talent” will be more than capable of bringing the development of Chrome OS to an end within the deadline.

Facebook is amassing a highly skilled team and has made some interesting hires lately. Then again, these kinds of moves are common in the tech world and probably won’t mean that much for either Facebook or Google.