Google co-founder takes reins as CEO

Google has a new CEO. Company co-founder Larry Page took over the reins of the internet giant Monday from Eric Schmidt, who was brought on board in 2001 to provide adult guidance to the then young company, dpa reported.

Schmidt will now serve as chairman.

The company announced the move in January, ending a ten-year stint in which Schmidt ran the company through an elaborate decision- sharing system in a triumvirate with Page, 38, and Sergey Brin, 37, the other co-founder of Google.

All three men are among the richest people in the world, with the two co-founders fortunes each estimated by Forbes to be around 20 billion dollars, while Schmidt is worth some 6 billion dollars.

Page is expected to attempt to revitalize Google and return the world's leading search engine and smartphone company to its aggressive start-up roots after largely missing out on the social networking trend that allowed the rise of new rivals like Facebook.