New York — Facebook has once again succeeded in swaying yet another important Googler to join its ranks. Google’s AdWords operations chief “Grady Burnett,” who held the title “Director, Online Sales & Operations” will quit the company and move from Ann Arbor, Mich., to join Facebook in Palo Alto, where he will lead the startup’s growing self-service advertising unit. Grady is also a DoubleClick veteran.
Burnett, who was based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to Google’s AdWords operation, is the second executive to announce his departure from the search giant this week.
Burnett will shift to Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, to lead the social-network’s global self-serve-ad operation, reporting to chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Burnett will report to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, herself a veteran of Google’s self-service advertising business, called Online Sales and Operations (OSO) inside the company.
Veteran Mike Miller will replace Grady at Google’s Ann Arbor location.
Burnett’s credentials claims that hes rather perfect for the job. Before Google, DoubleClick had him in a North American agency sales position. Burnett got an MBA from Harvard, too.
Facebook recently collected $200 million in funding at a $10 billion valuation. Sources close to the company say it will crack $400 million in revenue this year. Other reports put the figure at $500 million. The company says it will be cash-flow posiive by the end of the year.
Grady is just the latest in a long line of Google execs to quit the company in the past few months.
“As you might imagine, this was a hard decision for me and my family,” Grady, said in a statement. “We love Michigan, and I thoroughly enjoyed my nearly four years working for Google.”
Last month Ien Cheng left Google, where he was director of product management for advertising in Europe, to take up a senior interactive role at Bloomberg.
Others to have recently left include president of Google global display advertising business, David Rosenblatt, and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, the president of Google’s Asia-Pacific and Latin America operations.
Nevertheless, this fresh catch seems to signify that Facebook is taking more of an interest in making money instead of just attracting users.
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