Gregory McCray, CEO of Alphabet’s Access division is stepping down, according to a new report out of Bloomberg today. While CEOs often come and go, what makes this going a little more intriguing is that McCray had only been appointed as Access CEO in February of this year. Exactly five months and two days ago. If correct, McCray will be the second CEO to have left the position within the last year, following Craig Barratt who previously stepped down in October of 2016. Which was also around the same time that the company announced it was halting its expansion plans while it ‘refined its approaches’. Although it has since then widened Fiber’s availability slightly, it has not to the same level that had been expected prior to the halting announcement.
At the moment, this is still an unconfirmed report with Alphabet or McCray yet to publicly announce the departure, or of course, the reasons behind it. However, the same report from Bloomberg does cite a statement attributed to Alphabet’s CEO, Larry Page, confirming as much. With Page also stating “I’m confident we will find an amazing person to lead this important business.” Therefore, it seems highly likely that the report is correct and McCray is indeed leaving the position. At present, there does not seem to be any firm suggestions on who will replace McCray, however, with McCray’s appointment coming almost six months after Barratt’s stepping down, it could be sometime before a replacement is decided on, yet alone announced.
Alphabet’s Access division is of course, the division which overlooks Google Fiber. Meaning, the takeaway here is that the person who was appointed to oversee the near (and presumably long) term future of Google Fiber has stepped down. Which inevitably will lead to some questioning the future of Google Fiber, once again. Although, in the same statement attributed to Page, the Alphabet CEO was noted explaining that “we are committed to the success of Google Fiber.” A sentiment which will look to quell the suggestion that McCray’s leaving is representative of larger issues at Google Fiber. In either case, while Alphabet remains committed to Google Fiber, this latest news adds to what has become a growing amount of literature suggesting Google Fiber’s plan to bring gigabit internet to the masses is having difficulties.