Under Pichai, Alphabet’s moonshot projects may face more scrutiny

Some investors say Pichai's pragmatic approach and his background at Alphabet's core business may make him less patient about money-losing projects fostered in recent years by Page and Brin. — AFP

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO: Alphabet's leadership change has some investors hoping that the owner of Google will take a hard look at the cash-burning ventures championed by its founders.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced on Dec 3 they were stepping aside as executives of the Internet behemoth they founded 21 years ago, with trusted lieutenant Sundar Pichai, who has run the core Google search business since 2015, taking the reins as CEO of parent Alphabet.