Inside Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s quiet agreement with Sundar Pichai that has forced Google’s CEO to distinguish his leadership style

• When Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped away from Alphabet last year, they struck a deal with CEO Sundar Pichai: you can call us, but we won’t call you.
• It’s propelled Pichai into a tough job: Google has been in a midlife crisis for some time. Now it’s faced with an antitrust lawsuit.
• Insiders say Pichai is leading Google with a steady hand, but some worry that his pragmatism is a limitation, and that Google’s values are clashing with its ambitions to get ahead.
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When Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped away from their day-to-day duties at Alphabet last year, an informal agreement with CEO Sundar Pichai was made: the two billionaire cofounders would make themselves available whenever Pichai called, but they would not initiate contact.

It was an important acknowledgement that Pichai, the understated, 48-year-old engineer who rose through the ranks, was now the sole decision maker at the helm of an internet powerhouse that includes Google, YouTube and Android. 

The founders’ arrangement also signaled that the grueling task of steering the company through  some of the biggest crises in its history was now Pichai’s problem.