A Google vice president and sales executive is leaving the company after seven years to head an advertising-targeting start-up with another former Googler.
Penry Price, Google's vice president and head of global agency sales and partnerships, will leave Google to become president of Media6Degrees, AdAge reported.
Media6Degrees is an ad-targeting firm that uses vast data sets and algorithms to target customer prospects based on where a brand's customers congregate on the web. Mr. Price will report to CEO Tom Phillips, another former Google employee, and joins Chief Operating Officer Andrew Pancer and Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Rod Hook.
“Penry and I worked together for three very productive years at Google, and I am thrilled to have him join us at Media6Degrees,” Phillips told advertising trade publication Adotas.
While Price handled $3 billion in ad spending at Google, the numbers will be much smaller at Media6Degrees -- but don't let that make you feel sorry for him. The New York-based start-up received a $17 million series B cash infusion in December.
Price previously worked under Tim Armstrong, who left to become head of AOL, where he "ran Google New York's huge sales operation," according to Business Insider. After Armstrong's exodus, Price essentially became a spokesman and "looking for a way out."
Although it's unknown why Price is leaving Google, he will be moving from being an underling answering to Dennis Woodside, vice president and head of U.S. and Nikesh Arora, Google's chief business officer, to essentially being the head of an 80-person company. Perhaps that's enough reason to get out of a company.
