Brain drain continues at Google as AdWords chief departs

SAN FRANCISCO - Google has lost another executive, the latest in a growing line, as the man behind its AdWords business, Grady Burnett, heads to Facebook.

Crain's Detroit Business reported that Burnett will move to Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, California, to head the social network's global self-serve-ad operation, reporting to chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Burnett, who was based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to Google's AdWords operation, is the second executive to announce their departure from the search giant this week.

Earlier this week the departure of Google's North American director of agency relations Erin Clift was confirmed.

Clift is heading to AOL to join a number of former colleagues who have decamped to the portal since former Google North American ad sales boss Tim Armstrong arrived as the company's CEO.

He also hired Google Jeff Levick to lead global ad sales.

At Google Clift's job was to improve the search firm's standing among ad agencies.

Last month Ien Cheng left Google, where he was director of product management for advertising in Europe, to take up a senior interactive role at Bloomberg.

Others to have recently left include president of Google global display advertising business, David Rosenblatt, and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, the president of Google's Asia-Pacific and Latin America operations.

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