Google Fiber’s Top Exec Steps Down

Alphabet’s Access division and its Google Fiber unit are again in search of a new leader following the resignation of Gregory McCray just five months after he took the post, Bloomberg first reported. 

Update: A Google spokesperson confirmed that McCray had stepped down and that a search for his replacement is underway.

McCray was named CEO of Alphabet’s Access division in mid-February, taking over a role previously held by Craig Barratt, who had resigned that post last fall and is now CEO of Barefoot Networks, a maker of fast, programmable Ethernet switch chips that counts Google among its financial backers.

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McCray, previously was CEO of Aero Communications and a member of the CenturyLink board of directors, had taken the helm of Alphabet’s Access unit as it paused expansion plans for Google Fiber, concentrated on current deployments, and placed a greater emphasis on more cost-effective wireless broadband alternatives that included WebPass, a company acquired by Google last fall.

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“We are committed to the success of Google Fiber. The team is bringing gigabit connections to more and more happy customers,” Alphabet CEO Larry Page said in a statement. “Fiber has a great team and I’m confident we will find an amazing person to lead this important business.”

Google Fiber is part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets,” a unit that emphasizes longer-term projects.

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“We’re working to connect more people to abundant access, on networks that are always fast and always open. It’s a mission that we're fully committed to as a Google Fiber team,” a Google Fiber spokesperson said in a statement.