Larry Page takes over as Google CEO today

It's not goodbye to Eric Schmidt, but au revoir
It's not goodbye to Eric Schmidt, but au revoir

Today, Larry Page picks up the reigns as Google CEO as Eric Schmidt stands down.

Having announced the corporate re-jig in January, co-founder Page will now take over the day-to-day business of running Google, while Schmidt takes the position of Executive Chairman.

Google was born in 1998 and run by Page and fellow co-founder Sergey Brin until they brought Schmidt in as Google CEO in 2001.

Times they are achangin'

In a blog post announcing the changes to the management structure in January, Schmidt wrote, "For the last 10 years, we have all been equally involved in making decisions.

"This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. But we have also agreed to clarify our individual roles so there's clear responsibility and accountability at the top of the company."

Schmidt's new role of Executive Chairman will see him working on strategic aspects of the company, including advising Page and Brin and setting up "deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership."

Page won't be making sudden, sweeping changes that we users will see, rather fine-tuning the inner workings of the company.

It won't be plain sailing for Google over the next couple of years, however much it may seem that the company dominates the internet; there are antitrust law suits to battle, the supremacy of social networking to challenge and search results to improve.

With all that to deal with, let's hope that Larry Page doesn't forget to adhere to Google's unofficial mantra: "Don't be evil".

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.