Alphabet's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond is leaving on January 31; company says he will not be receiving an exit package
Alphabet's controversial chief legal officer, David Drummond, is leaving the company, effective January 31. — Drummond, an employee of nearly 20 years …
The exit also extends a pattern at the top of Alphabet: Eric Schmidt's transition out of the executive chairman role in late 2017 was the earlier signal that the company's founding-era leadership layer was thinning, and Drummond — nearly 20 years an employee — was one of the last of that cohort in an operational seat.
First-order effects
Alphabet must replace its chief legal officer on short notice, with the hire landing while the outside-firm review of executive conduct is still the context every candidate inherits.
Drummond leaves without an exit package, cutting off the payout controversy that would otherwise have followed him out and signaling Alphabet wants a clean severance-free separation.
Second-order effects
Other executives touched by the 2019 probe face heightened scrutiny, since Drummond's package-less exit sets the template for how Alphabet handles any further findings.
Boards and general counsels across tech now have a fresh reference point: withholding exit compensation is becoming a viable tool for separating controversial senior leaders without litigation over their packages.
Third-order effects
If the Schmidt-then-Drummond sequence holds, Alphabet's governance continues shifting away from its founding-era leadership toward a professionalized executive bench installed under investor and employee conduct pressure.
Outside law firms conducting internal executive investigations are hardening into standard practice for large tech companies, making independent-review-then-departure the expected lifecycle for misconduct allegations at the top.
The trend: Alphabet's founding-generation leadership is exiting one seat at a time, with conduct investigations and withheld exit packages replacing negotiated departures as the separation mechanism.
Bill Maris, who founded Google Ventures but left in 2016: “David Drummond is the reason I left Google. I simply could not work with him any longer. We have very, very different ideas about how to treat people, and this was a long time coming.” https://www.axios.com/...
Will be interesting to hear about who else left Google rather than work for/with Drummond. This from former Google Ventures head Bill Maris https://www.axios.com/... https://twitter.com/...
it is hard to overstate how insanely RARE it is for anyone in VC land to make a comment like this. even when people are accused of/caught behaving horribly, everyone plays nice in public. https://twitter.com/...
That Bill Maris comment implies that Google kept Drummond for another 4 years even after he was causing the shedding of key talent - wonder why $GOOG kept the man
It's hard for me to get too excited about this: * Drummond was allowed to resign with 3 weeks notice (the thing they told @lizthegrey was against policy), while organizers like myself were fired. * Drummond sold nearly $220 million in stock since the beginning of November 1/6 htt…
“More than any other piece of tough reporting against Google I've been a part of over the past 15 years, that article turned many people who work at Google against The Information, and me.” http://thein.fo/...
While noteworthy because of his status for years at the company, it's not exactly a surprise to anyone following the company. Drummond has been dumping his shares with vigor. Roughly $170 million worth of stock from November to January.
Alphabet's legal chief David Drummond, who has been the subject of an investigation, is leaving the company to “retire” at the end of the month. We have his entire departure note: https://www.cnbc.com/...
“This is a clear signal that new Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is fully in charge. Pichai, who also continues to run Google,has said that he would have no tolerance for harassment and that no future employees leaving after such issues would get exit packages” https://www.axios.com/.…
Previously @sundarpichai had said zero tolerance for harassment. No more exit packages. He now runs alphabet and Drummond got no exit package, no accelerates bonus or options, I'm told. https://www.axios.com/...
David Drummond is stepping down as chief legal officer of Alphabet, amid an internal investigation into sexual misconduct that involved Drummond both for how he handled complaints and for his own workplace relationships. https://www.axios.com/...