Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt is stepping down. Schmidt is one of the oldest Google employees as he joined the company in 2001 and since then has served in various roles within the company. He served as Google CEO for 10 years before becoming its chairman in 2011. When Alphabet, which is now Google's parent company, was formed, he became its chairman. On Friday, Alphabet announced that "Schmidt will be transitioning from his position as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, becoming a technical advisor to the company while continuing to serve on its board."
"Since 2001, Eric has provided us with business and engineering expertise and a clear vision about the future of technology," said Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet. "Continuing his 17 years of service to the company, he'll now be helping us as a technical advisor on science and technology issues."
In his own note for the press release, Schmidt said that Alphabet's current leaders were doing great and it was time for him to do something else. "Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet's evolution for this transition. The Alphabet structure is working well, and Google and the Other Bets are thriving," said Schmidt.
As for what he will do, he said, "In recent years, I've been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work."
Alphabet on Friday said that it expects the board to soon find a new non-executive chairman.
After his hiring in 2001, Schmidt became the CEO and continued in that role for 10 years. He reportedly took care of the Google business while the company founders -- Sergey and Larry -- focussed on the engineering side, working to create the products that billions of people use nowadays. This changed in 2011, when Larry Page again became the CEO and Schmidt became the chairman and the company.
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After the CEO change, Schmidt had a quirky take on Twitter. "Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed," he tweeted. The tweet was in reference to the time when he was hired in Google 17 years ago. When he joined Google after being hired by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were young and in their twenties, news reports noted that Schmidt, an experienced business leader, was brought in for day-to-day adult supervision.
In the last one decade -- and largely because of his position as the Google boss -- Schmidt became one of the most important figures in Silicon Valley. He served on Apple's board for around 3 years, but resigned after Google got into the phone market, competing with Apple. Although regarded an astute business leader, Schmidt has also been in controversies several times. He was reportedly one of the key figures in helping big Silicon Valley companies like Intel, Google and Apple create an informal no-poaching pact. He also made several controversial statements regarding online privacy and what Google does with user data.
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