Alphabet's Legal Chief to Leave Amid Investigation of Conduct

By Sarah E. Needleman and Rob Copeland 

The chief legal officer of Google parent Alphabet Inc. is leaving the company amid an investigation into his relationships with employees of the search-engine giant.

David Drummond, 56 years old, said he would retire at the end of the month from Alphabet after nearly 20 years of service, according to a securities filing Friday. In a memo to employees, Mr. Drummond said it is "the right time for me to make way for the next generation of leaders."

A Google spokeswoman said Mr. Drummond isn't receiving an exit package from the company.

Since November, Mr. Drummond has sold more than $221 million in Google stock, according to securities filings. He received about $47.3 million in total compensation including stock awards in 2018, company filings show, making him one of Alphabet's highest-paid executives.

Alphabet has said it was investigating Mr. Drummond's alleged misconduct.

Mr. Drummond's departure comes a month after the company shuffled its management structure, with co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepping down from day-to-day responsibilities and making Sundar Pichai chief executive of both Alphabet and Google.

Mr. Drummond, who joined Google full-time in 2002, has been working on Alphabet's investments including venture-capital arm GV and private-equity firm CapitalG, as well as legal matters related to the Alphabet structure. During his tenure, he had a hand in negotiating major acquisitions including Motorola Mobility and YouTube.

One year ago, a group of Alphabet shareholders sued several company officers and directors including Mr. Drummond, alleging "active and direct participation in a multi-year scheme to cover up sexual harassment and discrimination at Alphabet," according to a complaint filed in the San Mateo County Superior Court in California.

The suit, which is pending, accuses Mr. Drummond of concealing an affair with former Google employee Jennifer Blakely. It also claims he had knowledge of pervasive sexual harassment by Google executives and was complicit in failing to disclose the harassment and taking steps to cover it up.

Alphabet has declined to comment on the allegations.

Several other Alphabet shareholders have sued the company since January of last year.

In an August post on the blog site Medium, Ms. Blakely said that she began a relationship with Mr. Drummond in 2004 while she worked with him in the company's legal department and that she had a child with him in 2007.

Mr. Drummond has had romantic relationships with Google staffers other than Ms. Blakely, according to a person familiar with the matter.

"David was well aware that our relationship was in violation of Google's new policy which went from 'discouraging' direct-reporting-line relationships to outright banning them," she wrote.

In a statement to BuzzFeed last year, Mr. Drummond said that while he was "far from perfect," he had a "very different view" of Ms. Blakely's claims. "Her account raises many claims about us and other people, including our son and my former wife," he said. "As you would expect, there are two sides to all of the conversations and details Jennifer recounts, and I take a very different view about what happened."

A special committee formed by Alphabet's board hired law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Abrams & Bayliss LLP last year to investigate how executives at the search giant have handled claims of sexual harassment and other misconduct.

An Alphabet spokeswoman said an initial investigation has been completed and the board committee will continue to engage with the plaintiffs in mediation.

Thousands of Google employees world-wide staged walkouts last year to protest the tech giant's treatment of executives, including Mr. Drummond, accused of pursuing relationships with staff.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at [e-mail] and Rob Copeland at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 10, 2020 17:49 ET (22:49 GMT)

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