Liz Gannes and Kara Swisher write:

“Today I’m announcing my departure from Google after almost 8 years,” wrote Gundotra in a post titled, “And Then.” “I’m also forever in debt to the Google+ team. This is a group of people who built social at Google against the skepticism of so many.”

Page praised Gundotra, whose departure is immediate.

“Vic cut his teeth on our mobile apps and developer relations, turning Google’s disparate efforts into something great … And, walking onto the stage at I/O last year, it was amazing to see developers so excited about Google,” Page posted on Google+. “These were vintage Vic projects. Then Vic built Google+ from nothing. There are few people with the courage and ability to start something like that and I am very grateful for all his hard work and passion.”

Page also noted that the search giant would continue to invest in Google+, although he gave no specifics. But, according to sources, he has picked a current Google+ exec — VP of Engineering David Besbris — to replace Gundotra.

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Besbris has been at Google since 2008, after nearly a decade at AOL. He doesn’t have a huge public presence online, but — according to Google+ — he apparently likes photographing flowers and watching music cover videos on YouTube, and is a fan of the San Francisco 49ers.

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On his Google+ page, Gundotra’s introduction notes: “Fell in love with the power of software at age 11, and am still in love.” But in love with what now?

Was on Secret last week: "Vic Gundotra is interviewing."

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