Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 5.
James Whittaker raised eyebrows when he jumped ship from Google last month after working as a development director for its Google Plus social network. In this intriguing blog post, he lays out the reasons for his decision, which primarily concern the changing nature and culture of the company. It used to be an innovation factory, he said, empowering and feeding employees’ entrepreneurial and creative spirits. Now, though, it’s just all about ads.
The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus. Technically I suppose Google has always been an advertising company, but for the better part of the last three years, it didn’t feel like one. Google was an ad company only in the sense that a good TV show is an ad company: having great content attracts advertisers.
Read the full post on Whittaker’s Microsoft Blog.
More in Media
Digiday+ Research Subscription Index 2025: Subscription strategies from Bloomberg, The New York Times, Vox and others
Digiday’s third annual Subscription Index examines and measures publishers’ subscription strategies to identify common approaches and key tactics among Bloomberg, The New York Times, Vox and others.
From lawsuits to lobbying: How publishers are fighting AI
We may be closing out 2025, but publishers aren’t retreating from the battle of AI search — some are escalating it, and they expect the fight to stretch deep into 2026.
Media Briefing: Publishers turn to vertical video to compete with creators and grow ad revenue in 2026
Publishers add vertical video feeds to their sites to boost engagement, attract video ad spend and compete with news creators.
Ad position: web_bfu