Larry Page named new Google CEO
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JEREMY HOBSON: Google surprised Wall Street and Silicon Valley yesterday with the news that co-founder Larry Page will take over as the company’s new CEO. Google has been run for the last 10 years by Eric Schmidt.
Let’s bring in our Silicon Valley correspondent Steve Henn for more on this. Good morning.
STEVE HENN: Good morning.
HOBSON: So why is this shake up happening at Google, Steve?
HENN: Well, Eric Schmidt, Google’s outgoing CEO, joked on Twitter that adults supervision at Google was no longer necessary. So this is how he actually put it on the conference call today.
ERIC SCHMIDT: I believe Larry is ready. he’s been working on this area for a long time. His ideas are very interesting and clever, and it’s time for him to have a shot at running this and doing it. And I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job.
HENN: So when Eric Schmidt was brought in as CEO of Google a decade ago, he really was thought of as the adult supervision for Larry Page and Sergie Brin, the founders. Ten years on I think the concern here in Silicon Valley isn’t really about supervision as much as sort of youthful vigor. It hasn’t really done anything to challenge Facebook, its attempt to break into the TV market with GoogleTV pretty much imploded, and you know it promised a music service a year ago that never materialized. So there’s some concern about what’s going on there.
HOBSON: Now Steve, there was another shuffle over at Hewlett Packard. Tell us what’s going on there.
HENN: And there was a high profile turn over at Apple with Steve Jobs.
HOBSON: Right, of course.
HENN: You know, it’s been quite a week. The turnover at HP is probably the most dramatic in many ways. You know, in the past five months they’ve replaced their CEO by firing Mark Hurd. They’ve replaced the company’s chairman, and now they’ve replaced four board members. I think there’s a feeling at HP that they just need a fresh start. The board was widely seen as dysfunctional, they’re facing shareholder lawsuits, and they’re just trying to start over — reboot.
HOBSON: Marketplace’s Steve Henn fully booted-up for us this morning. Thank you so much for your time.
HENN: Sure thing.
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