Google co-founder Larry Page is the company’s new CEO, following a surprise re-organisation of the senior management.
Former CEO, Eric Schmidt, is now executive chairman, focusing on external relations with other businesses and the US Congress, government and regulators.
Page returns to the post he vacated in 2001, when Schmidt came in. Fellow founder Sergey Brin is to focus on “strategic” and new projects.
“We’ve been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time,” Schmidt said. “By clarifying our individual roles we’ll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I’m excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come.”
Page said Schmidt has done an outstanding job.
“The results speak for themselves. There is no other CEO in the world that could have kept such headstrong founders so deeply involved and still run the business so brilliantly. Eric is a tremendous leader and I have learned innumerable lessons from him.”
The announcement was made at the same time as Google reported a 20% increase in profits in the last quarter.
The change in leadership has prompted speculation of a fallout between Schmidt — a hard-headed businessman — and the technology-oriented founders.
Page’s first task will be to address Google’s shortcomings in the social web, where a succession of projects, notably Wave and Buzz, have failed to dent Facebook’s apparently inexorable growth.
Schmidt, meanwhile, will have to persuade regulators and law makers that Google is serious about protecting personal privacy and that it isn’t abusing its dominance of the Web search.
