Google’s parent company Alphabet’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt announced on Thursday that he has stepped down from his current position, and that he will remain on the board and take up a new role as an Alphabet technical advisor.
Schmidt served as Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011. Referring to Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, and CEO Sundar Pichai, Schmidt issued a statement:
“Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet’s evolution for this transition. The Alphabet structure is working well, and Google and the Other Bets are thriving. In recent years, I’ve been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work.”
A new chairman of the board will be appointed for Alphabet.
Schmidt took over the helm when Google was a three-year-old company run by the relatively inexperienced Brin and Page. During his tenure he navigated the company through its 2004 IPO and registered a 500% growth for Google stock.
In 2011, he made way for Larry Page to once again don the role of CEO, and in 2015 Sundar Pichai was appointed as CEO of Google, while Page remains the CEO of Alphabet, the parent group under which Google and Other Bets now operate.
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