Larry Page Becomes Google CEO

As  announced back in January, April 4, Larry Page became Google’s CEO. He already held this position until 2001.

For the past ten years, Google’s CEO has been Eric Schmidt. He was hired by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at the insistence of investors for "adult control."

Obviously, the co-founders no longer need such control. According to Schmidt, Page is ready to lead the company. As the Chief Executive Officer, Larry will be responsible for the operational activities of the company, as well as lead product development and formulate a technology development strategy.

Eric Schmidt himself retained the post of chairman of the board of directors. According to Google’s official statements, over the past ten years, he “helped a young company from Silicon Valley become a world leader in technology” and “under his leadership, the company significantly expanded its infrastructure and range of products, while maintaining a pronounced innovative culture.”

As chairman of the board of directors, Schmidt will be responsible for the external activities of Google, including for building partnerships and expanding business contacts, participating in government programs and developing technologies.

Sergey Brin, now officially referred to simply as the “co-founder,” will “lead the special projects.”

Despite the apparent success of the company ($ 8.44 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter), its new CEO will face a number of problems that need to be resolved.

Firstly, Google can’t conquer the space of social networks, while Facebook is growing more and more. Google Buzz was a clear failure, Orkut has not been able to take off for many years, and rumors about creating a competitor to Facebook are just rumors.

Secondly, Google has problems in the Chinese market. The company's revenue in China is growing, but not as fast as it could. In addition, Google claims that the Chinese government is slowing down Gmail. Google is also trying to make Google Maps service work in China without transferring its source code to the Chinese government. Meanwhile, Baidu rushes forward.

Thirdly, the company is increasingly being accused of monopolizing the search space and violating user privacy. Google needs to convince the world that it is an empire of good, not evil.

Good luck to Larry!