Amit Singhal, Sundar Pichai and Sridhar Ramaswamy are responsible for the nuts and bolts that power Google. The trio reports directly to Google co-founder & CEO Larry Page. They are part of what is popularly called the L-Team at Google — 'Larry's team', not leadership team. They drive innovation, are responsible for new products and most of Google's 40,000 employees report to them.
All three are senior vice-presidents, as was Arora. They are among the top eight executives at Google.
Ramaswamy, who is responsible for all the engineering behind Google's ad products, has the largest team of engineers under him. Advertising is basically how Google makes all its money.
Singhal, who runs search, is also a 'Google Fellow', a much revered designation within Google given only to its top scientists. He is building intelligence into the search algorithm to ensure that results are as accurate as possible.
Pichai runs the current hot businesses: Chrome, Android and Apps and is responsible for their development and building global partnerships to market them.
Pichai — who was once considered as a contender for Microsoft's top job, which went to insider Satya Nadella in February this year — was put in charge of Android in 2013, making him one of the most powerful technology executives in the world.
Android, the mobile operating system is used by more than 70% of world smartphones.
"Pichai has deep technical expertise, a great product eye, and tremendous entrepreneurial flair.This is a rare combination, which is what makes him a great leader," Google founder Larry Page said in a recent interview to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Google does not disclose the compensation of the trio nor does it reveal the value of stock options held by them.
Could one of the three become CEO someday? Some feel the trio may have a better chance than Arora.
"A product company banking on innovation to succeed will look at technology as a primary skill," says Ravi Venkatesan, former chairman, Microsoft India.
Adds K Sudarshan, managing partner, EMA Partners International: "In Google kind of companies, technology is the backbone. Technology has to run in your veins." This troika has that advantage. Arora didn't.
"Arora wouldn't have made it as CEO at a products company like Google; you need to be a top-notch engineer first," says a person familiar with the inner workings of Google. "It's possible that Arora hit a wall and decided to move on even though he did astoundingly well at Google," the person adds.
Page is also young, only 41. Arora, an engineer, MBA and CFA spearheaded Google's growth globally and also headed the European operations. He was instrumental in building Google's ad service into the largest online ad business in the world.
However, he didn't do coding or product development, the core of Google, and the skills that the three Indians possess. Vineet Nayar, former CEO, HCL Technologies believes the choice of a CEO is determined by two factors.
First, what is the source of biggest competitive advantage for the firm? Second, which leader is best positioned to leverage that value proposition to drive the company's growth?
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