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I'm curious what their continued involvement will look like. For a while after Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, there was this awkward tension where Steve Balme

I'm curious what their continued involvement will look like. For a while after Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, there was this awkward tension where Steve Balmer was CEO, but people still treated Bill like he was the one in control -- because he was.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lonelappde 7y ago
Page and Brin have been out of the big picture for a long time.
steve76 7y ago
Awkward tension? WTF is this middle school? Money goes up. Hell flows down. No need to complicate business.
binary_vitamin 7y ago
> For a while after Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, there was this awkward tension where Steve Balmer was CEO Bill was simply playing politics.
grappler 7y ago
“cofounder” isn't “what you're doing now”; it's “what you did 20 years ago” but it's important because people put weight on what the founders say and think. “[large] shareholder” is sort of a role, and often goes together with “member of the board”. Bill Gates is probably a good example to look to. He also stayed on the board (as chair) and remained a large shareholder, and was looked up to as the cofounder. So I'd imagine “like Bill Gates but with less active interest and involvement”.
s1k3b8 7y ago
> I'm curious what their continued involvement will look like. Page and Brin, combined, are currently the majority shareholders of alphabet. Each controls 27% of the voting power ( 54% combined ). They are still in charge. They just won't be involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. Sundar will still report to Page/Brin and the board of directors.
- casefields 7y ago
  Honestly, there’s so much drama and turmoil there, I wouldn’t want to be there either. So many other productive things they could be doing.
  - dfsegoat 7y ago
    Care to elaborate for the uninitiated ?
    - goosehonk 7y ago
      Generally: Founders: Bring your whole selves to work. Employees: great! That one guy: what a relief, because I’m literally a Nazi. Everybody: no. Leave that part at home. Guy: my rights are being trampled by a liberal conspiracy! Other person: my gender expression is the most important aspect of large-scale software development. Anyone who disagrees must be fired. Everyone: that doesn’t seem all that relevant, actually. Person: my rights are being trampled by a cis conspiracy! Everyone: rolling eyes
      - greesil 7y ago
        Why is this being downvoted? Now it's flagged. This is ridiculous.
        Sohcahtoa82 7y ago
        Because it's an extremely dishonest take on a highly political issue.
        greesil 7y ago
        Isn't the more appropriate response to respond to the comment rather than downvote it? It doesn't seem to be a personal attack, or some other violation of the community guidelines.
irjustin 7y ago
The difference here is that Page and Brin have always been willing to give up the CEO seat i.e. day to day operations. They're 100% still in control of direction and people will always treat them as the boss (esp voting power), but the dynamic will not have nearly as much friction.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

lonelappde 7y ago

Page and Brin have been out of the big picture for a long time.

steve76 7y ago

Awkward tension? WTF is this middle school? Money goes up. Hell flows down. No need to complicate business.

binary_vitamin 7y ago

> For a while after Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, there was this awkward tension where Steve Balmer was CEO Bill was simply playing politics.

grappler 7y ago

“cofounder” isn't “what you're doing now”; it's “what you did 20 years ago” but it's important because people put weight on what the founders say and think. “[large] shareholder” is sort of a role, and often goes together with “member of the board”. Bill Gates is probably a good example to look to. He also stayed on the board (as chair) and remained a large shareholder, and was looked up to as the cofounder. So I'd imagine “like Bill Gates but with less active interest and involvement”.

s1k3b8 7y ago

> I'm curious what their continued involvement will look like. Page and Brin, combined, are currently the majority shareholders of alphabet. Each controls 27% of the voting power ( 54% combined ). They are still in charge. They just won't be involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. Sundar will still report to Page/Brin and the board of directors.

casefields 7y ago
Honestly, there’s so much drama and turmoil there, I wouldn’t want to be there either. So many other productive things they could be doing.
- dfsegoat 7y ago
  Care to elaborate for the uninitiated ?
  - goosehonk 7y ago
    Generally: Founders: Bring your whole selves to work. Employees: great! That one guy: what a relief, because I’m literally a Nazi. Everybody: no. Leave that part at home. Guy: my rights are being trampled by a liberal conspiracy! Other person: my gender expression is the most important aspect of large-scale software development. Anyone who disagrees must be fired. Everyone: that doesn’t seem all that relevant, actually. Person: my rights are being trampled by a cis conspiracy! Everyone: rolling eyes
    - greesil 7y ago
      Why is this being downvoted? Now it's flagged. This is ridiculous.
      - Sohcahtoa82 7y ago
        Because it's an extremely dishonest take on a highly political issue.
        greesil 7y ago
        Isn't the more appropriate response to respond to the comment rather than downvote it? It doesn't seem to be a personal attack, or some other violation of the community guidelines.

irjustin 7y ago

The difference here is that Page and Brin have always been willing to give up the CEO seat i.e. day to day operations. They're 100% still in control of direction and people will always treat them as the boss (esp voting power), but the dynamic will not have nearly as much friction.