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The life and career of David Drummond, Alphabet's chief legal exec whose extramarital relationship with a former Google employee reignited criticism of the company's culture
The life and career of David Drummond, Alphabet's chief legal exec whose extramarital relationship with a former Google employee reignited criticism of the company's culture
Aug 30, 2019, 21:19 IST
David Drummond, 56, was born in Carmel, California.
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Drummond attended Santa Clara University, where he received a bachelor's degree in history.
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While attending Santa Clara, Drummond also played wide receiver for the university's football team. In 1985, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame for scholar-athletes.
Drummond went on to earn his law degree from Stanford Law School.
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After school, by 1998, Drummond had become a partner at the technology-focused law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. There, he was assigned to work with two young startup cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Drummond became Google's first outside counsel, helping Page and Brin legally incorporate their startup company and secure their initial venture funding.
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By 2002, Drummond would officially join Google as its vice president of corporate development. He would soon also become Google's top lawyer, with the title of general counsel.
In 2005, Drummond would find himself in hot water when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found Google had failed to register more than $80 million of employee stock option grants before its IPO the year prior.
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During his tenure at Google, Drummond would lead global teams in charge of legal, public policy, communications, mergers and acquisitions, and product quality operations.
When Google restructured in 2015 and its parent company, Alphabet, was formed, Drummond would become the senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer of the newly-constructed parent company.
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Drummond has also served as chairman for both of Alphabet's investment arms, GV and Capital G. It is not clear whether he still holds these positions.
What we do know is that he helped GV win at least one major deal: In 2013, he helped lead its $250 million investment into Uber. Drummond would join Uber's board that same year, though he stepped down in 2016 citing conflicts of interest with Alphabet's growing self-driving car ambitions.
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In November 2017, it was reported that Drummond had an extramarital relationship with a paralegal on his team named Jennifer Blakely. The two had a son together in 2007.
Almost one year later, in October 2018, The New York Times released a bombshell report providing more details into Drummond's relationship with Blakely and her subsequent departure from Google.
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This week, Jennifer Blakely published a personal account detailing her relationship with Drummond, alleging that after the two separated in 2008, the legal chief would go long periods without checking in on their son and abused her emotionally.
One day later, Drummond issued a personal statement, in which he said he is "far from perfect" but refuted some of Blakely's claims.
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Drummond remains one of Alphabet and Google's highest paid execs. In fact, in 2018, he was the second highest paid executive, earning $47 million — most of which came from stock option packages.