Listening to Google’s earnings call, the conversation began with the big news – Eric Schmidt is stepping down as CEO of the company. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of previously unavailable information came out of that, but there was a quick introduction of the news from Schmidt, Larry Page (who will take his place) and Sergey Brin, followed by a Q&A with those three. They apparently didn’t have the time to stick around any longer, so it went by very fast.
Schmidt talked about how the company has had such a strong year, and how the three of them have spent a lot of time talking about how to run everything and how they can do so even better. Historically, Schmidt said, the three had made decisions together, but a new structure would help to clarify things.
He did mention that the move has been approved by the board.
Page congratulated Schmidt on an "outstanding job" running the company for the past decade, and said he couldn’t imagine having had a better leader, and that "the results speak for themselves…I don’t think anyone will argue with that…No One else could’ve accomplished what Eric’s done."
Brin also talked about how great a time he’s had working with Larry for fifteen years and with Schmidt for ten, and looks forward to "many more decades working together." He hinted at some new products, but didn’t really give much of a hint, simply saying he hopes to show us when they’re ready.
Schmidt says he’ll be taking a more strategic view of things, focusing on external issues, rather than internal. "I believe Larry is ready," he said, adding that his ideas are "interesting and clever."
He also said that he doesn’t anticipate on any material change with the company…just executing better.
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