Google Loses A(nother) Top Online Ad Executive

David Fischer, who’s had his hands in Google’s AdWords, AdSense, and Book Scanning programs (among others), is on his way out. Silicon Alley Insider is reporting from an internal Google memo that Fischer will take a sabbatical later this month and return to Google “at the end of the year” in a new role that involves Google’s Geo, Local, and Check-Out products.

As VP of Global Online Sales and Operations, Fischer’s contributions to Google’s growth are hard to understate. Here’s how the company bio explains his work at Google:

David Fischer is responsible for Google’s online sales channel, which represents the majority of the company’s customers worldwide. David has provided leadership for the online sales and operations program since its inception in early 2002 and has helped build Google’s online advertising network into the largest in the world. He also runs the online sales channel of the AdSense publisher program, which enables website owners worldwide to earn revenue through partnerships with Google.

David manages operations for Google’s consumer products worldwide and runs Google’s Book Search scanning operations, working with libraries and publishers around the world to digitally scan books from their collections. In addition, he leads the Google Grants program, which has donated more than $300 million advertising dollars to thousands of nonprofits around the world. David has opened many offices for Google, including its sales centers in Hyderabad and Gurgaon, India as well as Ann Arbor, Michigan and Boston, Massachusetts.

Earlier this year, Google lost another long-serving ad executive when Tim Armstrong left to become AOL’s CEO.

Fischer will be replaced temporarily by Nikesh Arora, currently Google’s President of Global Sales Operations and Business Development.

There’s more discussion on Techmeme.

Postscript: Also of note, TechCrunch reports that ex-Googler Dick Costolo, who was the co-founder of Feedburner, is now the COO at Twitter. There’s all kinds of irony in that move, what with so many Twitter users saying they don’t bother with RSS anymore….

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Matt McGee

Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.