Google hires Amazon's search chief
Move deals setback to online rival's ambitions — In a blow to Amazon.com Inc.'s efforts to make a name for itself in search, the head of its online search effort is jumping ship to work for Google Inc. — Udi Manber, who has been chief executive …
Context & Ripple Effects
John Battelle's Searchblog broke the move on February 7, confirming that Udi Manber was leaving Amazon's A9 division for Google; this piece is the mainstream Seattle press picking up the same story the next day, with syndication reaching outlets like Search Engine Journal already asking what is wrong with A9. The timing lands amid a busy week for Google on multiple fronts: reports of a rumored Manber departure came alongside chatter about a potential $1 billion Dell preinstall deal for its Toolbar and Desktop software — unconfirmed talk that nonetheless knocked $17 off Google's shares — and a confirmed auction-style test for selling print advertisements.
First-order effects
- Amazon's A9 loses the executive leading its online search effort, a direct setback to its stated goal of building a name in search against Google.
- Google adds an experienced search leader to its bench while its rival's flagship search initiative is left without its chief.
Second-order effects
- A9 must either promote from within or recruit a replacement into a market where Google can outbid for proven search talent, raising the cost of staying in the game.
- The loss compounds pressure on Amazon's broader strategy of competing through in-house search technology rather than licensing or partnering, just as Google pushes distribution deals like the rumored Dell bundling to lock up default placement.
Third-order effects
- If talent keeps flowing toward the search incumbent, mid-2000s challengers like A9 face structural consolidation: search becomes a discipline where scale and staff concentrate at Google, and would-be competitors retreat to niches.
- Search leadership churn at Google itself — whoever inherits the role next will define how the company defends its most profitable franchise — points to executive succession becoming a recurring competitive battleground in search.
The trend: Search engineering talent and leadership are consolidating around Google, squeezing rivals like Amazon's A9 out of the general web-search race.