Google Protected Andy Rubin Despite Sexual Misconduct

According to a report from the New York Times, Google paid Android creator Andy Rubin a whopping sum of $90 million even after being accused of sexual misconduct.

The tech giant chose to give a “hero farewell” to Andy Rubin in October 2014 even after committing such acts, and the top executives at the company remained silent about it the whole time.

Before Rubin’s exit, the company investigated sexual misconduct claims against Mr. Rubin. Two Google employees familiar with the episode said that Rubin coerced an employee, who was in an extra-marital affair with him, into performing sexual acts in a hotel room in 2013.

Despite finding the claims credible, Google quietly asked him to step down from his position and gave him a $90 million exit package — something that it had no obligation to do.

In fact, Google has been paying installments of his “exit package” every month for the last four years, and the last one is scheduled for next month.

Surprisingly, $90 million was only a start. Google went on doing business with Andy Rubin as if nothing ever happened. Google also gave him a stock grant worth $150 million during the initial stage of the investigation.

There is little doubt that Larry Page didn’t know about Andy Rubin’s immoral acts. But even if we give Google the benefit of the doubt, it still does not justify the investment in Andy Rubin’s VC, Playground Ventures. Also, allowing him to pay a $14 million loan Google had given him “to buy a beach estate in Japan” was just absurd.

Soon after the article was published, Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive and VP of people operations Eileen Naughton wrote an e-mail to all Google employees regarding their safety in the Google workspace.

Instead of mentioning anything about Andy Rubin, the e-mail said the “company had fired 48 people for sexual harassment over the last two years and that none of them received an exit package.”

This is how Andy Rubin responded to all the allegations:

https://twitter.com/Arubin/status/1055632399172755456

A Google engineer said to the New York Times, “When Google covers up harassment and passes the trash, it contributes to an environment where people don’t feel safe reporting misconduct.”