Google Inc co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO from Eric Schmidt, a surprise that signaled Silicon Valley's most powerful Internet company was taking the offensive against fast-moving rivals like Facebook.
Schmidt will step aside on April 4 and make way for Page -- who created the company with fellow Stanford University alumnus Sergey Brin in 1998 -- to take the reins of a company that has dominated Internet search for a decade but is in danger of losing traffic to social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Schmidt, who became CEO in 2001 to bring more management experience to a then-fledgling company, will assume the role of executive chairman, focusing on deals and government outreach, among other things. Brin will concentrate on strategic projects.
Shares in the Internet search and advertising leader rose about 2 percent to $639 in extended trading.
Just days ago, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs announced a leave of absence, leaving lieutenant Tim Cook in charge of day-to-day operations. Like Google, Apple also announced results this week that blew past Wall Street's estimates.
News of the change came as Google reported a 29 percent surge in both net profit and net revenue that beat forecasts.
Net revenue, excluding fees paid to partner websites, was $6.37 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, on average, were expecting net revenue of $6.06 billion.
On a conference call with analysts, Google CFO Patrick Pichette said a 10 percent, across-the-board pay raise instituted late last year was a direct attempt to staunch a flow of talent to hot Web upstarts in the Valley.
The question is whether Facebook's success could start to cut into Google's business, as investors debate whether marketers will advertise on both online services, or shift advertising dollars from Google to the world's largest social network.
"It's a good move. It (the triumvirate management structure) was always one of things that concerned us a little bit," said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager with the Jacob Internet Fund. "It should streamline the decision-making process. They're in a fast-moving industry."
"As Google has grown, managing the business has become more complicated. So Larry, Sergey and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making," Schmidt said in a posting on the company's official blog.
Google also reported fourth-quarter financial results, beating Wall Street's net revenue expectations.
"It will be interesting to see what he'll do that's different, what he could not have done in his prior role," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
By: Sahad P V
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