Yesterday brought bombshell news from Google (GOOGL): Eric Schmidt will step down as CEO, and co-founder Larry Page will step up to replace him. Schmidt, well known for his public gaffes, tweeted out, “Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!” following the announcement, in apparent reference to his position as overseer of co-founders Page and Sergey Brin.
Now Page will presumably be free to think about the future of his company. What might a Larry Page-run Google look like?
Well, Page is a proponent of the Singularity Movement, which seeks to use machines to solve world problems, and Page has publicly voiced enthusiasm about space elevators and robocars that drive themselves.
Google, it seems, is hoping that the 37-year-old Page will reinvigorate the company by bringing back the youthful energy of a startup. Schmidt, 55, originally came on board to bring a mature presence to the company, but now Google sees itself losing ground to younger sites like Facebook.
Page is bringing a formidable intellect and an entrepreneur’s spirit, but making robocars as hip as tweets is certainly a tall order.
