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Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

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Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#31

Post by sdoowpilihp »

helium wrote: post #24
sdoowpilihp wrote: post #13

My initial reaction was that this was just another Google April fools joke.

I think it needs to be the 1st of April for it to be an April fools joke, right?

I think initial reactions are rarely subject to sound logic.

Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#32

Post by leoc »

powrtoch wrote: post #20
moultano wrote: post #11

From my (very limited) perspective, this seems to be mostly publicly clarifying the roles they were already effectively serving in their ad hoc division of labor for a while. Larry has been the most involved in the technology details, Sergey has been the most involved in the blue-sky new projects, and Eric has been the most involved in the interaction between Google and other entities (as well as very high level dire…

Agreed. It seems like it may just be a PR move... Larry doesn't have Eric's growing reputation for slight creepiness. People might like the idea (whether it's true or not) that he's the one making all the calls.

But on the other side of the coin, this makes it a bit harder for Good Czar Larry to hide behind nasty old Eric Schmidt whenever Google does something inept or morally questionable.

Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#33

Post by jonknee »

siglesias wrote: post #19
mdwrigh2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What decisions made by Eric Schmidt would you consider "bad"?

Leading a decade of mediocre home-grown products (save for Gmail)? EDIT: Name one hit Google product Schmidt oversaw (again, save for Gmail) that wasn't an acquisition. This is supposed to be a company of innovation. EDIT 2: I regret the use of mediocre. I'm sure the technology, like everything that comes out of Google, was top notch. Certain products though, like Buzz, Wave, and TV, and the bizarrely bifurcated-from…

Being able to execute upon acquisitions and bring them to Google-scale is nothing to scoff at. Example, Android. Despite the Gruber's of the world thinking it is an iPhone rip off, Google made the acquisition (of a very small company--the Android we know today was quite simply built by Google) in 2005.

Update: Also, thought of a few... Translate, Chrome, Talk, and Reader. I'm sure there are more, definitely if you include ones based on acquisitions (Analytics, Earth, Apps, etc).

Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#34

Post by roc »

mdwrigh2 wrote: post #9
toisanji wrote: post #2

I wonder how much of this is due to some of the bad decisions Eric Schmidt has made with google.

What decisions made by Eric Schmidt would you consider "bad"?

I don't know about bad business decisions, but he certainly had a bad year for putting his foot in his mouth.

And there's certainly no shortage of unpopular, not-classically-Google-like decisions (though thoroughly defensible business-wise) in the recent past: Buzz Privacy, StreetView WiFi debacle, Net Neutrality reversal, the WebM reversal, the Scan-First-Ask-Later library project and settlement process, etc.

If we put any weight into the rumors that the entire triumvirate didn't see eye to eye on all those things, mixed in with publicly-recognized conflicts (such as the way that Sergey clearly trusted Schmidt on the China deal, which backfired spectacularly) I think you can make a pretty good argument for "Schmidt Messed Up".

Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#35

Post by gokhan »

Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, Sun (CTO), Novell (CEO), Google (CEO)... Quite impressive.

As indicated by page 29 of Google's 2004 S-1 Filing Eric Schmidt, Page, and Brin run Google as a triumvirate. Eric Schmidt possesses the legal responsibilities typically assigned to the CEO of a public company and focuses on management of the vice presidents and the sales organization. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt)

Google was always a different company. And we should not evaluate this move as if HP's CEO is stepping down, or IBM's etc. After all this time, I believe Larry can make it. Interesting times.

Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#36

Post by bakbak »

I guess Google is going to be more focused on PR (and lobbying) and will be way more aggressive than ever before - in simple lingo , they wont take anymore bullshit (from all sort of heavy weight and nasty competitors) and even more than that they will stop them even before they think to do anything against google ...

Don't be Evil to Customers and Shareholders !!!

But be as Evil as possible if (and Only if) someone tries to screw you !!!

Re: Eric Schmidt: On April 4th I Will Step Down, Larry Page to be CEO

#37

Post by borism »

leoc wrote: post #32
powrtoch wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. It seems like it may just be a PR move... Larry doesn't have Eric's growing reputation for slight creepiness. People might like the idea (whether it's true or not) that he's the one making all the calls.

But on the other side of the coin, this makes it a bit harder for Good Czar Larry to hide behind nasty old Eric Schmidt whenever Google does something inept or morally questionable.

well maybe that's the point?
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