Google recently announced the promotion of one of its employees to oversee the company’s operations. Shailesh Prakash was appointed general manager of the aforementioned business unit of Alphabet Inc. owned by the digital giant.
As recently revealed, the new general manager of Google’s news division worked for the Washington Post. On Wednesday of this week, it was revealed that he had left his position as chief information officer at the daily newspaper publisher to work for the Mountainview, California-based computer company.
Prakash worked at the Washington Post for more than a decade and oversaw the paper’s design, product and technology departments. As of now, he is scheduled to start working at Google in November.
His departure is significant because, according to industry insiders, he was a driving force behind the newspaper’s technology revolution as head of technology and news.
Fred Ryan, CEO of the Washington Post, was quoted by Reuters as telling employees, “This is a huge role, and Google gives him the opportunity to continue to pursue his interests at the intersection of news and engineering and make a profound impact around the world.” Prakash’s departure comes after a long period of success at The Post.
In addition, Google’s general manager of inbound news joined publishing companies in 2011. He has since improved news distribution in the digital age. According to Business Insider, he is now vice president and general manager of news at Jeff Bezos’ publication.
Prakash’s departure from the Post was a big blow to the company, as he received praise for his leadership from the second richest man in the world. A person familiar with the paper’s inner workings said Prakash was being considered as a potential CEO, which gives some idea of the extent of the paper’s losses. In any case, he will officially leave the company in two months.
