Google CFO quits in search of quality time

Google’s chief financial officer Patrick Pichette announced in a blog post on Tuesday that he is retiring “to grab our (his and wife Tamara’s) backpacks and hit the road”.

Google’s chief financial officer Patrick Pichette announced in a blog post on Tuesday that he is retiring “to grab our (his and wife Tamara’s) backpacks and hit the road”.

Pichette, 52, who has been with the search giant for seven years, will help the company find his successor before leaving. Google announced his retirement in a regulatory filing.

The Wall Street Journal said Pichette was a much-liked figure on Wall Street, especially as he was seen as a check on the company’s spending on its co-founders’ ambitious projects.

The work was exciting, he had made good friends at Google, had a terrific time and, according to The Wall Street Journal, had plenty of money — $81 million in Google stocks.

But he said, in the blog post, that he had been working non-stop now for 25-30 years as a member of “FWIO, the noble Fraternity of Worldwide Insecure Over-achievers”.

Last fall, while travelling with wife Tamara in Africa, she said why don’t they just keep going — “the Himalayas, Everest, go to Bali, the Great Barrier Reef... Antarctica”.

The CFO in him gave a typical response — “I would love to keep going, but we have to go back. It’s not time yet, There is still so much to do at Google, with my career, so many people counting on me/us — boards, non profits, etc”.

His wife asked, so when will it be time for the two of them?

That question stayed with him. And after mulling the situation — children not home, non-stop work for the past so many years, and the need to be together. It was time.

Pichette said he may consider getting back to some “leadership opportunities” but only after exhausting “our long list of travels and adventures”.