14 DAY TRIAL // After losing the Google Glass inventor for Amazon, Google is losing yet another exec, namely the chief business officer, Nikesh Arora.
According to a post on Larry Page’s Google+ profile page, Arora will be moving on to Japan’s SoftBank Corp, where he’ll play the role of vice chairman, as well as CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media.
Larry Page’s lieutenant and Google’s main link to Wall Street, has decided to step down from his position at Google after nearly ten years.
“I remember first meeting him at the British Museum, which for some reason Sergey had decided would be a good interview location. Nikesh has been a tremendous leader, adviser and mentor to many Googlers -- including me. We have learned a lot together, and had a lot of fun along the way,” Page writes.
But since Google needs someone to occupy the position, Omid Kordestani will be stepping in and taking over for Arora. Page says Kordestani has been the company’s business founder and has led the sales teams for many years, which means that it makes sense for him to take over as Chief Business Officer now.
“When we hired Omid we had no business people so we had all the engineers interview him around a ping pong table. I think he survived because he is actually an engineer!” Page jokes.
The Google leader admits that Kordestani has been one of his closest advisors, especially since he became CEO again in 2011. “He personifies the entrepreneurial spirit that is so important to Google.”
The news about Arora’s departure actually came before Page made his post, which made the conference call from yesterday that much more bittersweet because it was his last.
Google’s CEO has stopped attending conference calls in the past year, something that he announced last year, urging investors not to panic because he wasn’t there. The recent financial results were announced by Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette and Nikesh Arora, the exec who decided to go to SoftBank.
As mentioned, Google recently lost Babak Parviz, an optics savant who invented Google Glass and the smart contact lenses that the company is gearing up to start producing in partnership with Swiss firm Novartis.
Without giving out many details, Parviz said he was very happy to start working for Amazon. It is quite likely that he will focus on Firefly, a feature that’s built in Amazon’s new Fire Phone, which can be used to recognize one’s surroundings.