Google shares news: Tech giant hires Samsung executive for IoT business

Google shares are currently a little lower in pre-market trade, amid reports the global tech giant has hired a Samsung Executive, Injong Rhee to lead its Internet of Things business. Rhee announced the news in a post on his LinkedIn account, after leaving Samsung in December.

Google shares closed at $1,054.56, in the US Monday. Pre-market activity places the Google stock a little in the red, Tuesday.

Google’s latest new hire

Rhee joins Google after leaving his role as Samsung’s chief technology officer. Rhee said in his LinkedIn post that he is now Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Google, leading their IoT business and will report to Google Cloud CEO and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) board member, Diane Greene.

“While I will always cherish my time at Samsung, it is time to embark on my next adventure,” Rhee said.

“IoT is a new and exciting space with tremendous potential to transform how we use and deploy technology in our everyday lives,” Rhee said, adding: “With support from Diane and the other members of the leadership team, I hope to grow Google IoT into a sustainable and profitable business line”.

Google confirmed the news Rhee has joined its team as EIR, but gave no further comment, according to a Reuters report.

Rhee to connect Google’s IoT product lines

Speaking in an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, Rhee told reporters he would be working to connect a variety of existing Google IoT assets, including Google Cloud, the connected car platform and Google Home and Nest.

“One of the first things I would like to do with my Google colleagues is to get these efforts coordinated and aligned toward a concerted IoT story of Google — in the process, create distinct consumer and enterprise product lines,” Rhee also said in his LinkedIn post.

During his six years at Samsung, Rhee worked on Knox, its advanced security solution and Samsung Pay. Rhee also lead Samsung’s artificial intelligence platform Bixby.