The man who founded Google Ventures – now known as GV – in 2009, Bill Maris, has decided to leave the search engine giant for reasons not known as of yet. A report from Recode says that he will be done with his employer by the end of this week and David Krane will reportedly be taking his place to head the Internet giant’s venture arm.
A Middlebury student studying neuroscience, Mr. Maris, co-founded a Web hosting firm earlier on prior to his recruitment by Google, where he founded GV. Mr. Krane is currently a managing partner at the company’s venture arm, which he joined in 2010 after spending roughly 10 years as the director of global communications and public affairs at Google.
This news comes at an interesting point for Alphabet Inc – the parent company of GV, Google, and many other units – as it adds on top of a series of high profile departures in the company recently. Rich Miner, the co-founder of the Android mobile operating system, recently said farewell to GV to initiate and work on an education related project within the search engine giant.
The cofounder of Nest Labs (an Alphabet-owned subsidiary that Google acquired in 2014 for $3.2 billion), Tony Fadell, recently parted ways with Alphabet along with numerous high level employees and executives, including the technology chief Chris Urmson, who recently left Google’s autonomous car division.
As the founder of the-then Google Ventures, Mr. Maris had a substantial amount of power at the unit. In February, he said – in an interview on stage – that he currently invests half a billion dollars a year on part of GV into various projects. Despite of the board of investors behind GV, Mr. Maris was ultimately in charge of every decision. With Mr. Krane replacing Mr. Maris, it isn’t yet known whether any changes would be made or that the top-down operations will be effected.
However, an unidentified source close to the matter in GV claims that Mr. Krane will not be an acting CEO but a permanent one. Being promoted to managing director at GV nearly two years ago, the new chief executive at the venture arm has had enough experience to run the show as he was positioned at the most senior post under Mr. Maris.
Mr. Maris had a child earlier this year and doesn’t seem to have any career plans following his departure. A source says that he has been having several ideas for the future but needs some time off before he can get back to business; but it most likely won’t be at Google. However, his departure is otherwise sudden.
Recode suggests that disputes between GV and Google Capital could’ve played a key role behind Mr. Maris’s departure. Furthermore, Google has been pouring investments into companies off its balance sheet directly; GV has some substantial stakes in the Internet giant’s portfolio including the ride-hailing service, Uber.
In 2013, GV led the $258 million funding Series C round for Uber at a $4 billion evaluation. The company is now reportedly valued at an estimated $60 billion. Mr. Maris noted in an interview last month that Uber was actually one of Mr. Krane’s investments and he also spearheaded GV’s investments in Blue Bottle Coffee and Nest Labs.