Google, surprisingly, had an okay quarter, with revenues up 6 percent. This optimistic figure buried the bad news: Sales chief Omid Kordestani is stepping down.

Kordestani was Google's first moneyman, the company's so-called "business founder." He is taking the role of an advisor to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. This semi-retirement is understandable; even after an expensive divorce and the decline in Google shares, he is still worth $1.4 billion, the result of his well-timed jump to Google when it was a fledgling startup.

Like any good salesman, Kordestani has a talent for following the money. Is it that same sense of timing that is leading him to leave now, while Google could still report one decent quarter of earnings?

Here's how the release puts it:

Recent Developments – After ten years of building and managing our global sales and partnership operations, Omid Kordestani has decided to hand over the reins to Nikesh Arora, currently President of International Operations, and take on a new role as Senior Advisor, Office of the CEO and Founders. Continued growth is essential to our future success and no one is better placed to advise on new revenue opportunities than Omid, the business founder of Google. In his new role as President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development, Nikesh Arora will have responsibility for all Google's revenue and customer operations, as well as marketing and partnerships. He has a proven track record at Google, having spent the last four and a half years building our European operations into a substantial business.

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