• Los Angeles Times, Friday, April 8, 2011 12:30 PM

With a focus on social, Google's recently returned CEO Larry Page is fast reshaping the search giant in his own image. Just days after top Google exec Jonathan Rosenberg resigned, "Page put key executives in charge of their individual business units," reports the Los Angeles Times. "They will report directly to him."

In no particular order, Andy Rubin is now SVP of mobile; Vic Gundotra is now SVP of social; Sundar Pichai is now SVP of Chrome; Salar Kamangar is now SVP of YouTube and video; Alan Eustace is now SVP of search; and Susan Wojcicki is now SVP of ads. "In a nutshell, [Page is] giving his lieutenants more autonomy to innovate without a decision-making committee," writes ZDNet.

"Putting Gundotra in charge of social last summer was already an indication of how seriously Google is taking it," TechCrunch writes. "But now with his promotion and the recent launch of +1 (Google's most recent foray into social), it's getting more attention from up top." What's more, Business Insider is reporting that Page has tied 25% of employee bonuses to the success of its new social strategy. In an internal memo, "Page tells employees that are not directly involved in Google's social efforts that they, too, will be held accountable."

"Both moves have similar goals: Page wants Google to be innovative and hungry again," writes VentureBeat.

Meanwhile, "In a bid to revitalize the company, Page has placed himself in a hands-on role at the center of the organization," reports NetworkEffect. "Each business unit is set up to run as its own independent start-up, as an alternative to the more horizontal division of labor under Rosenberg and former CEO Eric Schmidt." "The leadership shake-up," Mashable note, "is also be an indication that Page is shifting power away from Google's powerful Operating Committee, a group within the organization that has traditionally been responsible for its most important decisions."

"Whether in the long run the new strategy is a good thing for Google or, as some commenters have suggested, a bad thing remains to be seen," writes Fast Company. "There are infinite ways of organizing a company, and in the end, success derives as much, if not more, from execution, as from the shape of an org chart."

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