Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/01/25/leeder_joins_google/

Chocolate Factory gets new Charlie in Oz

Murdoch’s Leeder takes helm in old media-new media ship-jump

By Richard Chirgwin

Posted in On-Prem, 25th January 2011 23:37 GMT

Google Australia and New Zealand has appointed former deputy editor of The Australian Nick Leeder as its new managing director.

Leeder will lead the company in what Google's Asia Pacific & Japan VP Daniel Alegre calls an exciting time (well, apparently the Google statement says that he said this, and who am I to argue?). Alegre tagged “new investments in Australia” (read: more acquisitions out of Google’s bottomless cash fund) as one of Leeder’s key responsibilities.

The newspaper man's jump from old media to new is made even more interesting by the hostility long shown by Rupert Murdoch – and all who wish to prosper under his command – towards Google as a parasite on legitimate news.

Leeder, whose CV also includes Fairfax and McKinsey, reports for work at the Chocolate Factory’s Sydney waterfront offices in March. ®