A Major Change at Google

(March 11, 2011) – The recent announcement that Google co-founder Larry Page will be replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO has sent huge ripples through the tech community. Schmidt has served as Google’s CEO and Chairman of the Board for the past decade, but will relinquish his control of the day-to-day operations on April 4. That Schmidt was able to grow a company with revenues of less than $100 million to a $30 billion behemoth in such a short time is remarkable. Meanwhile, Page, who has often been described as eccentric and lacking social graces, has focused on product development and technology strategy.

Up until now, Schmidt, Page, and co-founder Sergey Brin have run Google as a team, enjoying equal say on important decisions. Clearly, the company has done quite well for itself over the past decade. However, the leaders acknowledge that this system has slowed decision-making and created issues regarding accountability. Google has also inevitably become more bureaucratic as it has grown, which brings great distress to Page and Brin. Page’s unorthodox business strategies will surely run counter to the more traditional practices that Schmidt has employed.

Larry Page is a man full of grandiose ideas – It was he who proposed the idea of having users answer each others’ technical questions in an online forum instead of maintaining a dedicated support team. This, along with many other seemingly preposterous ideas, has proved wildly successful. Of course, no one can say for sure what’s next for Google, but it is safe to say that there will be at least a couple major announcements arriving during the remainder of 2011. Stay tuned to the Inside SVG Blog to read the latest updates on this fascinating story, as well as other exciting developments in the world of search!

Read a detailed account of the story here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/03/mf_larrypage/all/1