Cuban American George Reyes, 53, announced he is to retire from his job as Chief Financial Officer of Google Inc by the end of the year. Reyes came onboard in 2002 joining his former Sun Microsystems Inc. colleague Eric E. Schmidt, who became Google's chief executive officer in 2001.

It's unknown why Reyes is stepping down. So far, there has been no real criticism of his tenure, which saw the search engine leader become the second-biggest IPO for a technology company in 2004. However, Reyes did make some statements which at the moment caused Google shares to slide significantly. One occasion, probably the most important, was in February 2006 when the CFO said analysts should realize that the company will not keep up with the 86 percent sales growth it reported in the previous quarter. His statement, although quite realistic, saw shares drop some 7 percent.

"George successfully navigated our innovative IPO, the regulatory demands of Sarbanes-Oxley, and the management challenges of scaling a global finance organization," Google's CEO Schmidt said in the company's official statement. "Though we fully appreciate his decision to step back from active management, we'll miss his thoughtfulness, good humor and wisdom."

All things being equal, the bottom line is Reyes helped propel Google to a stunning market value of $158 billion.

"Working at Google these past 5 and a half years has been an extraordinary ride," said Reyes. "I'm honored and flattered to have been a part of this great management team. I know I'm leaving the company in good hands with a remarkable team of professionals that will continue to build on Google's tremendous achievements."

Reyes held a series of executive positions at Sun Microsystems, where he worked for around 13 years. Then he joined Symantec's board of directors, in 2000.