Vic Gundotra, who has championed Google+ since inception, is leaving Google. He confirmed the departure via his Google+ page, and CEO Larry Page further discussed the matter with Re/Code. Gundotra’s farewell touched on his passion, and finding what’s next. His departure is effective immediately.
It seems the genesis for Gundotra’s considering his departure was a tragic family accident, wherein his wife’s uncle was killed in an accident. A speech at the funeral touched on moving forward, and pushing on — words spoken from the heart. Gundotra hasn’t mentioned what led him to actually leave Google, but he was full of praise for everyone he’s worked with – and for.
Larry Page, speaking to Re/Code, said “Vic cut his teeth on our mobile apps and developer relations, turning Google’s disparate efforts into something great … And, walking onto the stage at I/O last year, it was amazing to see developers so excited about Google. These were vintage Vic projects. Then Vic built Google+ from nothing. There are few people with the courage and ability to start something like that and I am very grateful for all his hard work and passion.”
Who replaces Gundotra? Re/Code cites sources as saying it will be Dave Besbris, who is an exec currently working on Google+. Those who follow him online will know he’s an avid photographer who shares a lot of nature shots (easily the highlight of my Google+ stream). Besbris came to Google in 2008 after 10 years at AOL.
Vic Gundotra, in his Google+ announcement of departure, noted his now passed uncle would always start conversations with “and then?”. That’s how Vic leaves us, with a question of what’s next. Speaking personally, I’ve come to know Vic casually through various friends and colleagues. Always gracious, always kind, always a champion for what was next — the “and then” of Google, so to speak.
Update: GigaOM claims to have confirmed Dave Besbris is indeed taking over.
Man, all the good Google superheroes are leaving.
came to Google is 2008 = came to Google in 2008
Google+ was a crappy concept anyways.. ba-bye, I won’t be missing ya! 😉
The head of a department leaving doesn’t indicate a negative any more than Rubin leaving as head of Android indicated its demise..quite the opposite in fact.
Maybe you need to stop assuming negative press equates with reality as all indications are that G+ continues to grow at a steady rate.
And how about some perspective. G+ is not even three years old and its a solid number 2 social. Facebook took 4 years to even catch MySpace.
I see a lot of people are latching on to Vic’s departure to assume it means something negative for G+. We get it, you hate Google or G+.
Yet all I hear when I see so many people trying to inject meaning into something that they cannot possibly know (as no real details have been released) all I see is a lot of silly angst.
For whatever reason some folks are so emotionally against the idea of G+ succeeding that they can’t seem to cope with the fact that others do use and enjoy the service.