Google’s Schmidt Steps Down, Page Named CEO

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt is stepping down from that position at the helm of the company and turning those responsibilities over to Google co-founder Larry Page, according to a blog post by Schmidt today in the Official Google Blog.

Google’s other co-founder, Sergey Brin, will work on strategic projects, Schmidt said, in particular new products. His title will be Co-Founder, Schmidt said.

Schmidt will move into the executive chairman role where he will focus on "wherever I can add the greatest value: externally, on the deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership that are increasingly important given Google’s global reach; and internally as an advisor to Larry and Sergey."

"As our results today show, the outlook is bright," Schmidt said. "But as Google has grown, managing the business has become more complicated. So Larry, Sergey and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making—and over the holidays we decided now was the right moment to make some changes to the way we are structured."