Google’s Hugo Barra is Leaving Google to Work at Xiaomi

[dgstorm]

According to a new report from AllThingsD, there is a new shakeup in leadership at Google. Supposedly, Hugo Barra, the vice president of product management for Android, will be leaving Google to go work for Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer. He will be taking a position as Xiaomi's Vice President of Xiaomi Global, and will be responsible for Xiaomi’s international business development and Android strategic partnerships.

In a Google+ post, Hugo Barra shared the following related to his departure,

“After nearly 5½ years at Google and almost 3 years as a member of the Android team — the most amazing group of people I’ve ever worked with in my life — I have decided to start a new career chapter. In a few weeks, I’ll be joining the Xiaomi team in China to help them expand their incredible product portfolio and business globally — as Vice President, Xiaomi Global. I’m really looking forward to this new challenge, and am particularly excited about the opportunity to continue to help drive the Android ecosystem.”

Google's head of Android, Sundar Pichai said, “We wish Hugo Barra the best. We’ll miss him at Google and we’re excited that he is staying within the Android ecosystem.”

It's a rather quick and surprising move to see happen within the leadership at Google, but that doesn't mean we should read anything more into it. Sometimes people just change jobs. Of course, we will keep an eye out for any signs there was more going on which might have caused this.

We will share a salacious detail which came along with this report. Supposedly, Hugo Barra had a romantic relationship with an unnamed female Googler, that ended not too long ago. Additionally, this same Googler is now supposedly involved with Google Co-Founder, Sergei Brin, who recently divorced his wife. According to the report, this romantic entanglement was not related to his departure and Hugo Barra had already decided to leave the company before he even became aware the Googler was involved with Sergei Brin.

Of course, this triangle may not have been the direct cause of this situation, but it does make you wonder if the original break-up with the unnamed Googler was partially to blame. This could be a prime example of why you should almost never get romantically involved with someone at your work place.

Care to speculate on what is really going on?

Source: AllThingsD

 

[edap]

Google has always had a talent retention issue. It’s because of the type of people they want to employ. They want innovators, but many of those people eventually find that Google will not innovate on their specific ideas and look for ways to expand their vision by going outside of Google. Honestly, it’s what keeps the company fresh and moving forward. If employees are only there for 3-6 years, it makes room for new ideas on a regular basis.
On the Android front, I think things will be just fine. There is a lot of talent on the Android team and I’m sure there are plenty of Google employees who will be able to fill the void left by Hugo. Personally, I think Matias Duarte should step into the light a bit more and be the new face of Android for Google.