- Google’s cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, recently ended a six-month internal quiet period, according to a CNET report on Monday.
- Page and Brin attended the company’s town-hall meeting, known as TGIF, on May 30 and spoke about the company’s cloud strategy, sources told CNET.
- The duo – who regularly attended in the past and often answered questions during these meetings – had reportedly not shown up to a TGIF in 2019, their longest absence in company history.
- Their “MIA” status came at a time when the company faced an onslaught of internal pressure from employee organizers over its business decisions and practices.
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Google’s cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, recently ended a six-month, self-imposed quiet period within the company, according to a CNET report on Monday.
Page and Brin attended the company’s weekly all-hands meeting, known as TGIF, on May 30 and spoke about the company’s cloud strategy, according to sources who spoke with CNET. A Google representative confirmed with Business Insider that the cofounders were onstage at the meeting alongside Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The duo – who regularly attended in the past and often answered questions during these meetings – had reportedly not shown up to a TGIF in 2019, their longest absence in company history.
Page and Brin’s “MIA” status came at a time when the company faced an onslaught of internal pressures from employee organizers over its business decisions and practices, including its handling of harassment cases, involvement in military contracts, and plans to build a censored search engine for China.
Questions reportedly arose during the May 30 meeting about accusations of retaliation against these employee organizers, though that section was handled by Eileen Naughton, Google's head of people operations.
Google told Business Insider on Monday that part of the reason the Alphabet umbrella was created back in 2015 was so its cofounders could focus more on the company's "Other Bets," like its self-driving-car company, Waymo.
TGIF is an all-hands meeting for Google, which oversees Alphabet's core business of search, YouTube, and Android. Pichai is the CEO of Google, while Page is the CEO of Alphabet. The company representative would not confirm which projects Brin was working on.
Still, the person said, the cofounders liked to "pop in" to TGIF meetings from time to time.
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