Although Omid Kordestani was away from Google for five years, by his telling, he never really left.
The executive, who returned to Google last July, told Re/code’s Kara Swisher that he consulted regularly with CEO Larry Page during his official hiatus. Page anointed him as the chief business officer in the fall. In that role, Kordestani is responsible for steering all the parts of the $60 billion plus ad juggernaut — and signing off on Google’s investments that have yet to pay dividends.
At the Code Conference last month, Kordestani spoke about why he returned to Google, how the core business is adapting to mobile and why the company’s moonshot bets make business sense.
See video of the full interview below:
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?
Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:
First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.
Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.
So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)
If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.
Yes, I'll give $5/month
Yes, I'll give $5/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and
Google Pay. You can also contribute via
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63709773/code2015_20150527_141916_7538.0.1488656366.0.jpg)
