Google senior VP and head of Google+ to leave after eight years

[onehandle]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Vic Gundotra, senior vice president and head of Google+, said Thursday that he was leaving the company after nearly eight years. He didn't say where he was headed or why he had decided to leave.

"Now is the time for a new journey. A continuation. An 'and then.' I am excited about what's next," he said in a Google+ post announcing his departure. "But this isn't the day to talk about that. This is a day to celebrate the past 8 years. To cry. And smile. And to look forward to the journey yet to come."

He thanked the "invincible dreamers" of the company's social networking team and specifically called out Google co-founder Larry Page for his guidance through the years.

"From starting Google I/O, to being responsible for all mobile applications, to creating Google+, none of this would have happened without Larry's encouragement and support," Gundotra said.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-vic-gundotra-20140424,0,7013527.story

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Google+ is Google's fourth and most high profile social network failure. Heads must roll in the #2 data spy on Earth after the NSA.

[savalez]

1. First Apple's social network "PING" was a complete disaster,

and now this guy is leaving Google? I don't see the correlation. Oh, wait, yes I do.

[onehandle]

3. Ping was a niche within iTunes about music. Not a full on assault on Facebook and Twitter.

Ping probably cost a few million and Apple knew when to quit.

Google has sunk billions into Google+, eventually having to force Gmail users to 'convert.' 99% of which kept using Gmail and ignoring Google+.

The guy behind their last social network failure 'Buzz' also 'quit.'

Additionally, that wasn't Apple's first social network. e-World was ahead of its time, but lost to AOL.

[Jack for Sanders]

2. Meanwhile: Facebook profits triple as half of internet world now uses website

Facebook profits have almost tripled after it revealed that nearly half the world’s internet population uses the social network.
The web giant, founded and run by Mark Zuckerberg, also unveiled a 72pc surge in revenues in a bumper set of first-quarter results on Wednesday that pushed the shares up more than 4pc in after-hours trading on Wall Street.
Boosted by an 82pc year-on-year rise advertising revenues to $2.27bn, Facebook said net profits jumped to $642m, from $219m in the first three months of 2013. Revenues rose to $2.5bn, easily beating the average analyst estimate of $2.36bn.
Facebook revealed that it now has 1.28bn monthly active users, or almost half the world’s internet population, up from 1.23bn last quarter. A billion of these now use their mobile phones to access the social network.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/10783576/Facebook-profits-triple-as-half-of-internet-world-now-uses-website.html

[mackerel]

4. Maybe he got tired of "Don't be Evil"

or his cheating boss started to irritate him. How many interns can you sleep with?