A well-known tech blogger and venture capitalist says it might be time for Google to find a new CEO

• Om Malik is a well-known tech writer and venture capitalist.
• In a recent blog post, he asked whether it was time for Google's CEO Sundar Pichai to step down.
• Google's stock dropped 9% in the days following an error it made announcing its AI service, Bard.

Google has already had a pretty rough start to the year.

Last week, the company made a gaffe in an ad announcing its ChatGPT competitor, Bard. The company's "experimental conversational AI service" gave out a factually incorrect answer, which led to Google's stock dropping almost 9% in the following days.

Now, Om Malik — a prominent venture capitalist and tech writer — is wondering whether it might be time for Google to find a new CEO. Malik has earned his laurels in Silicon Valley through years of tech blogging and investing as a partner at venture firm True Ventures.

In a blog post last Wednesday titled "Does Google need a new CEO?" Malik wrote:

"Google's board, including the founders, must ask: is Pichai the right guy to run the company, or is it time for Sundar to go? Does the company need a more offense minded CEO? Someone who is not satisfied with status quo, and willing to break some eggs?"

After a flub like the Bard ad, Malik wrote, "at any other company, investors would ask for the CEO's head."

However, Malik noted that Pichai has been critical in Google's ascent to a tech giant — which is why he said Pichai is still in charge.

Yet as Google enters into a new era — where its dominance over the search engine is being challenged by companies like Microsoft and OpenAI — Malik wonders whether the company needs a more dynamic action plan.

"Google seems to have dragged its feet. The botched demo and lack of action around AI are symptoms of a bigger disease — a company entrapped in its past, inaction, and missed opportunities."

Malik posted a poll to Twitter last Wednesday which asked whether the company needed a new CEO. The results appear to slip 50-50 across 170 responders.

—OM (@om) February 8, 2023

Shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company, have fallen 29.3% in the past 12 months, outpacing the stock downturns of both Microsoft (down 7.7%) and Meta (down 18.3%). In that same time period, the broader Nasdaq index is down 13.8%.

Google and Malik did not immediately respond to Insider's request for a comment.