Google's Pichai to oversee main services

San Francisco

GOOGLE Inc chief executive officer Larry Page has put Sundar Pichai, one of his key lieutenants, in charge of the Internet company's products. The India-born executive will have oversight over products such as search, maps, Google+, commerce, advertising and infrastructure, according to a Google spokesman. Six executives who previously reported to Mr Page, including the heads of research, social media and search, will now report to Mr Pichai, according to Re/code, which first reported the change on Friday, citing an internal memo.

The change will free Mr Page from having as many direct reports and product units to oversee so that he can better focus on "the bigger picture", according to the Re/code report, which also cited anonymous sources.