Google social chief Vic Gundotra steps down

Gundotra helped launch the Google+ social network, among other products.

Google's social chief Vic Gundotra, the man primarily responsible for the Google+ social network, announced Thursday that he's leaving the company after eight years on the job.

In a post on his Google+ profile -- of course -- Gundotra mostly reflected on his time spent at Google , but he did not divulge what he would be doing next.

A Google spokesperson confirmed that Dave Besbris, the head of engineering at Google+, would be taking Gundotra's position as VP of Social. That was first reported by Re/code Thursday.

Gundotra began his time at Google working on mobile apps, but then focused his energies on launching and fostering Google+, a social network whose level of success mostly lies in the eye of the beholder. Google+ has grown impressively since its 2011 to more than half a billion users. But Google's accounting of Google+ users is controversial, since many users are not nearly as active on the social network as they are on Facebook or Twitter .

Gundotra was also responsible for spearheading Google's annual I/O conference, which brings together software developers and designers.

Prior to Google, Gundotra worked at Microsoft , where he served as a platform evangelist.

CEO Larry Page didn't have much to say in his Google+ post about Gundotra's exit, but he did mention that the company would continue to invest in the social network.

First Published: April 24, 2014: 4:50 PM ET