After ten years at the company, Eric Schmidt decided to resign as the chief executive officer of Google, a leading Internet service company. Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, will take the helm and will become chief executive officer starting early April. The company said that the switch of the execs will help to make the decision making process faster.

Starting from April 4, Larry Page, Google co-founder, will take charge of Google's day-to-day operations as chief executive officer. Eric Schmidt will assume the role of executive chairman, focusing externally on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, all of which are increasingly important given Google's global reach. Internally, he will continue to act as an advisor. Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, will devote his energy to strategic projects, in particular working on new products.

From left to right: Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin in a self-driving car

"When I joined Google in 2001 I never imagined - even in my wildest dreams - that we would get as far, as fast as we have today. [...] But 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 - and over the holidays we decided now was the right moment to make some changes to the way we are structured," said Eric Schmidt in a letter to Google staff.

According to the now former chief executive of Google, all three executives have all been equally involved in making decisions throughout the last ten years. This triumvirate approach had real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and they will continue to discuss the big decisions among themselves. However, with the shuffle of the execs, the individual roles and responsibilities will be clarified strictly.

"We are confident that this focus will serve Google and our users well in the future. Larry, Sergey and I have worked exceptionally closely together for over a decade - and we anticipate working together for a long time to come," said Mr. Schmidt.

Tags: Google, Business