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Stripe hires long-serving Google executive Claire Johnson to manage business operations

Claire Hughes Johnson

Re/code reports on Tuesday that senior Google executive Claire Hughes Johnson has been hired by payments company Stripe to lead business operations at the San Francisco-based tech startup. According to the report, Johnson will make the transition from Google to Stripe while taking just one day off as she switches jobs.

Johnson will be moving from a high-profile tech giant in Google to a smaller but growing startup in Stripe, a company that enables businesses to accept payments over the Internet. Stripe offers an API that enables developers to integrate the payments service on their website or apps without needing a merchant account.

Johnson has worked various management and vice president positions at Google since joining the search company in 2004, ranging from Director of the Consumer Operations department between 2004 and 2009 to serving as Vice President of the Google X special projects division for its self-driving car initiative over the past ten months.

“When I joined Google, it was a 1,500-person company, which I thought was huge, since I don’t think of myself as a corporate person,” said Johnson. “It’s exciting to be able to be part of the block and tackle of building a company from a smaller base […] and this company has a vision that is different and has huge potential.”

Claire Hughes Johnson Google Stripe

According to Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, the payments company has reached agreements with Apple, Google and other tech companies that have helped the company generate eight times as many transactions over the past year. While it does not currently make any profits, Stripe is valued at $1.75 billion after rounds of investments.

Johnson is just the latest high-profile Google executive to be tapped by Silicon Valley tech startups in recent years, with others including former Motorola chief executive Dennis Woodside, who left for Dropbox, and former Google Treasurer and Chief Accountant Brent Callinicos, who left for Uber last September.

In the video below, Johnson hosts an interview with auto racing star and model Danica Patrick:

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