Google replaces the director of search and advertising

Google is making huge changes to the company’s leadership. In a note to staff sent on ThursdayGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, senior vice president responsible for search, advertising and other critical segments, will now take on the role of chief technologist.

“Prabhakar decided it was time to take a big step in his career,” writes Pichai. “After 12 years of leading teams at Google, he will return to his IT roots and take on the role of Google’s chief technologist. In this role, he will work closely with me and Google executives to provide technical direction and leadership and advance our culture of technology excellence.”

Raghavan has been in charge of advertising and commerce since 2018 and has been promoted to director of Google Search and Assistant in 2020. Nick Fox, who was part of Raghavan’s leadership team, will replace Raghavan, who leads Google’s search, advertising, geo and commerce businesses. According to Pichai, Fox has helped bring products such as Google Fi and RCS messaging to market.

Google is also reshuffling some other teams. The division responsible for the Google Gemini application, led by Sissie Hsaio, will join Google DeepMind under the leadership of CEO Demis Hassabis. The Google Assistant team will also become part of the Google Platforms and Devices team.

This change comes at a key time for Google, which has established itself as a major player in artificial intelligence. At the same time, Google faces the possibility of the company being dissolved by the U.S. government after declaring its search business a monopoly.