Google loses payments and commerce head behind the upcoming Google Wallet to Pinterest

Abner Li | Jun 28 2022 - 3:53 pm PT

News broke today that Pinterest cofounder Ben Silbermann is stepping down as CEO and that Bill Ready, Google’s former head of commerce and payments, will take over.

Bill Ready was most recently Google’s president of commerce, payments, and next billion users. The executive was previously at Braintree, Venmo, and PayPal before joining Google at the start of 2020.

He initially only led Commerce efforts like combatting Amazon by dropping “Buy on Google” commission fees and making listings on Google Shopping free. There were also partnerships with Shopify and WooCommerce.

In April of 2021, Ready picked up Payments and Next Billion Users following the departure of longtime Google executive Caesar Sengupta. He is cited as playing a “key role in setting a new vision and strategy for Commerce and Payments at Google.” This includes the upcoming launch of Google Wallet and the plan to make it a “comprehensive digital wallet,” as well as ending previous “Plex” banking plans.

Bill has played a key role in setting a new vision and strategy for Commerce and Payments at Google. We will continue building on this strong foundation to make helpful, commerce experiences universally accessible for our users and our partners. We are grateful for Bill’s leadership and wish him all the best in his new role at Pinterest.
Google Spokesperson

In the interim, Google is placing Nick Fox in charge of commerce, payments, and NBU. Previously in charge of Assistant, Fox has been at the company for nearly 19 years and has worked across ads, search, and commerce. He reports to SVP Prabhakar Raghavan and also heads long-term bets.