Nest Labs chief out after two years at Google

Tony Fadell is stepping down as head of Nest Labs, just over two tumultuous years after selling the smart-home gadget maker to Google.

Fadell will leave Nest immediately and be replaced by Marwan Fawaz, former executive vice president of Motorola Mobility where he served as CEO of Motorola Home, Nest said in a statement. Fadell will still advise Alphabet and Larry Page, the Google co-founder and chief executive officer of the holding company.

The departure, and problems that precipitated it, are a blow to Google, which purchased Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion, its third-largest acquisition ever. The deal brought in a proven technology hardware executive to help the internet giant design better devices and integrate its web services deeper into people's homes.

Nest became part of Alphabet's new corporate structure, unveiled last summer, where independent businesses with their own CEOs were supposed to run more efficiently without involvement from the main Google internet operations.

In recent months, some Nest employees complained publicly about Fadell's management, while claiming the business had missed sales targets, botched upgrades and delayed future products.