Eric Schmidt Out, Larry Page In As Google CEO 185
jfruhlinger writes "Google surprised just about everybody at its earnings call by announcing that Eric Schmidt, who had served as company CEO for more than a decade, would be stepping down and that cofounder Larry Page would take over. Schmidt will stay on as chairman and provide 'technology thought leadership,' whatever that is. When Schmidt, an old Sun hand, joined Google in 2001, it was seen as a move to turn the scrappy upstart into a mature company; now on his Twitter feed Schmidt proclaims that his 'adult supervision' is no longer needed."
Re:Beginning of the end? (Score:5, Informative)
He says he doesn't need "adult supervision" anymore? Well the child is the worst to judge these things.
No, it is Eric Schmidt who said "Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" It should be taken as "The founders no longer need an experienced management guy to run their company. They have matured over the last few years, and I think they'll do fine on their own."
If that were the case, he'd never have joined (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure Schmidt was comfortably rich after being the CTO of Sun and the CEO of Novell.
Guys like him don't do it for the (extra) money, but because they want to be/do something important.
Re:Schmidt to take over Apple? (Score:5, Informative)
I don't see how this could be a smart move for Google. Page and Brin may have become too big for their boots, but I suspect something else.
The official explanation seems plausible: its streamlining operations and clarifying roles and responsibilities in an organization where three people have been functionally working together as co-leaders (and, in a sense, will continue to do so.)
Perhaps Schmidt will follow Steve Jobs to lead Apple.
Staying on as "executive chairman" without being CEO and still keeping primary responsibility for most of the "business" (non-technical) operations suggest that that's not all that likely.