Schmidt to step down as CEO as Google turns a new Page

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is stepping down in April, and co-founder Larry Page is taking over, the company said before its earnings statement on January 20.

“Google also announced that its board of directors had approved certain changes to Google’s management team,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and president of products, will become Google’s chief executive officer, effective April 4, 2011.

“Eric Schmidt, Google’s current chief executive officer, will continue as the chairman of the board of directors and will serve as Google’s executive chairman.”

As executive chairman, Google said, Schmidt will act as an advisor to Page and Sergey Brin, Google’s other co-founder and president of technology.

Schmidt will also assist with Page’s transition to CEO.

Larry Page, left, shall assume the role of CEO April 4, while Schmidt, centre, shall stay on as executive chairman

Schmidt said: “We’ve been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time. 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.”

Schmidt said Page would now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths, and starting from April 4 he will take charge of the day-to-day operations as Google’s CEO.

In its earnings report, Google revealed that for Q410 the company generated revenues of US$8.44 billion, 26 per cent higher than the previous year. Full year revenues exceeded US$29 billion.

Google-owned sites generated revenues of US$5.67 billion, or 67 per cent of total revenues during the fourth quarter. Partner sites (AdSense) generated US$2.5 billion (30 per cent of total revenues).

International revenues were US$4.38 billion, representing 52 per cent of total revenues in Q4.