Larry Page Has His First Day as CEO of Google

In January of this year, the now former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, revealed that his days as CEO were numbered. Come April 4, co-founder Larry Page would be stepping up to take his place, and Schmidt would assume the role of advisor to Larry Page and his business partner Sergey Brin. Schmidt would also continue his role as chairman of the company while focusing on external affairs like business deals and government outreach.

Page has spent the last 10 years occupying the role of “president of products” at Google but is no stranger to the role of CEO of Google; the co-founder was CEO for three years before Schmidt was brought on -- a decision prompted by investors’ demands for a more mature leader. However, the company has changed significantly in the years since he last acted as Chief Executive, something Schmidt was all too ready to admit in January.

“When I joined Google in 2001 I never imagined—even in my wildest dreams—that we would get as far, as fast as we have today. Search has quite literally changed people’s lives—increasing the collective sum of the world’s knowledge and revolutionizing advertising in the process,” Schmidt said, adding that the company’s emerging markets, like Google Chrome and Android, were growing a significant pace.

“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.”

While things are vastly different compared to 2001, Page has had a decade to mature and grow into a leader. As for Brin, he’ll be focusing his time and energy on strategic projects, new ones in particular. It’ll be interesting to see where the new Google goes.

  • bsbsbsbs
    Welcome aboard Mr. Page. Now please arrange for 2.3 Gingerbread to be released on all SGS's. haha
    Reply
  • jprahman
    ... and so skynet was born.
    Reply
  • sudeshc
    and here we go another CEO change, how many companies have changed there CEOs lately its like there is some sort of season has come where everyone changes CEO's
    Reply
  • f-14
    sudeshcand here we go another CEO change, how many companies have changed there CEOs lately its like there is some sort of season has come where everyone changes CEO'sadapt with the times or be left in the dust with the dinosaurs in the pages of history.
    what works in a good economy doesn't work in a bad economy always so things have to change. nothing ever stays the same that's why time was invented :P
    watch as more major companies start folding up and going out of business this year. the old methods of sales is really stating to show how serious it's decline has been and those companies are paying the ultimate price.
    Reply
  • borisof007
    Read a recent Wired article on Larry Page, he's an AWESOME dude, just the person Google needs running at the top right now. The man's a savage, and I hope he'll speed things along and get Google running at "startup" speeds again.
    Reply
  • What do these guys do every day other than get paid $1,345/minute?
    Reply
  • atuk
    The only thing that is constant is change. I hope years late one of the founders won't write a book in bad light of how they made funny deals of breaking up the google bread and who never got to enjoy running this company.
    Reply