News & Notes: Schmidt ’76 steps down as CEO of Google

Alumnus Eric Schmidt ’76 has stepped down as CEO of Google. Schmidt’s departure will be rewarded with $100 million in stocks and options, and he is expected to retain 9.1 percent of Google’s voting power.

Schmidt, who has led the company since 2001, will be succeeded by Google cofounder Larry Page. Schmidt will stay with the company as its executive chairman.

After Google’s much anticipated public offering in 2004, the company has become an Internet conglomerate that employs 24,400 and is worth nearly $200 billion. Despite this growth, the rise of other startup companies such as Facebook has exposed Google’s weaknesses in social networking and television. Company executives said that one of their goals was to uphold Google’s reputation as one of the best places for top engineers to work.

During his tenure at Google, Schmidt taught classes at Stanford Graduate School of Business, served as an advisor to the Obama presidential campaign and sat on Apple’s board of directors.

After receiving a B.S.E. in electrical engineering at Princeton, Schmidt received a master’s degree and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.