Tony Fadell Steps Down From Head Of Alphabet's Nest Division

After a rocky few months filled with reports of dissatisfaction among his employees, Tony Fadell announced Friday afternoon he is stepping down as head of Alphabet Inc.'s Nest division. Fadell, a former Apple Inc. executive who led the connected home-device company to a 2014 acquisition by Google and has been at the helm of the division since, said in a blog post the decision has been in the works for months. "Although this news may feel sudden to some, this transition has been in progress since late last year and while I won't be present day to day at Nest, I'll remain involved in my new capacity as an adviser to Alphabet and Larry Page," Fadell wrote. Fadell has been under fire since a founder of Dropcam, another Alphabet acquisition that Fadell was put in charge of, publicly took him to task following reports that more than half the Dropcam team had left. Earlier this week, a complaint from a former employee to the National Labor Relations Board became public, reigniting the controversy. Fadell will be replaced by Marwan Fawaz, who led the Motorola business when it was owned by Google.