Nothing in the Page/Brin announcement says anything about a divestiture or relinquishing of the voting control. The fact remains: Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the most powerful and least accountable humans on the planet.
Between 2011 and 2013, the FTC tried to depose Larry Page during its antitrust investigation of Google. Google's lawyer's claimed he was ill multiple times. He was never deposed. 
Google settled Uber/Waymo on terms many observers said were favorable to Uber the day before Larry Page was set to take the stand.
The 2015 creation of "Alphabet" was a Houdini act of corporate reshuffling designed to protect Larry and Sergey from this type of scrutiny. Leaks of confidential internal meetings from 2016 reminded the world who was really in charge.
Today's announcement that Larry and Sergey are "stepping away" is the final act of that routine.
They are not going to actually relinquish their voting control of the company. They will continue to be the most powerful people on the planet. But they'll be even more invisible.
They are not going to actually relinquish their voting control of the company. They will continue to be the most powerful people on the planet. But they'll be even more invisible.
...and if it's not already obvious:
Larry Page's "resignation" is a direct response to the renewed antitrust grilling of Google across the globe. This is about creating the appearance of a retirement to avoid the Zuckerberg/Gates-like scrutiny Google's deftly avoided thus far.
Larry Page's "resignation" is a direct response to the renewed antitrust grilling of Google across the globe. This is about creating the appearance of a retirement to avoid the Zuckerberg/Gates-like scrutiny Google's deftly avoided thus far.
The business press will frame this as two titans of industry riding off into the sunset. But this is a political story.
It is about two guys who founded a legally shady monopoly (& have never publicly answered for it) sprinting toward escape hatches as law enforcement closes in.
It is about two guys who founded a legally shady monopoly (& have never publicly answered for it) sprinting toward escape hatches as law enforcement closes in.
