Eric Schmidt stepping down from role as Alphabet's executive chairman

Posted:
in General Discussion
Long-time Google and Alphabet executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has announced his intention to transition to a "technical advisor" role -- but will keep a seat on the board of directors.




Alphabet announced the transition in a statement on Thursday afternoon. The company expects that the board will appoint a non-executive chairman, similar to the role that Arthur D. Levinson retains with Apple.

"Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet's evolution for this transition," Schmidt said in a statement. "The Alphabet structure is working well, and Google and the Other Bets are thriving. 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."

Schmidt served as the Chief Executive Officer of Google from 2001 to 2011. At the time, Schmidt was responsible for building the corporate infrastructure needed to sustain Google's growth as a company. Founder Larry Page replaced Schmidt as CEO.

Schmidt, with Page and Brin
Schmidt, with Page and Brin


"Since 2001, Eric has provided us with business and engineering expertise and a clear vision about the future of technology," Page said about Schmidt's transition. "Continuing his 17 years of service to the company, he'll now be helping us as a technical advisor on science and technology issues. I'm incredibly excited about the progress our companies are making, and about the strong leaders who are driving that innovation."

According to Schmidt, he was "adult supervision" for co-founders Sergey Brin and Page.

Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed! http://goo.gl/zC89p

-- Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt)
Schmidt was at the core of the "no-poach" agreements between Adobe, Apple under Steve Jobs, Google, and Intel. He also served on the Apple board of directors between Aug. 28 2006 and Aug.3, 2009, and stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    He also served on the Apple board of directors between Aug. 28 2006 and Aug.3, 2009, and stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest  after Android had copied enough from the iPhone to really piss off Steve Jobs.
    .

    There.  Fixed it.
    edited December 2017 patchythepiratelkruppMuntzanantksundaramcecil444leavingthebiggMacProStrangeDayswatto_cobraxzu
  • Reply 2 of 32
    Well, now that he’s off the Apple Board of Directors he isn’t as valuable so...it’s been slow walk away from his duties there but I guess he can just fade away now.
    edited December 2017 patchythepiratewatto_cobracornchip
  • Reply 3 of 32
    As an Apple fan who has clear memory of Schmidt's treachery, I stop paying attention to what Schmidt does and says. Indeed why should anyone at Appleinsider care about Schmidt's retirement?
    badmonkMuntzleavingthebiggMacProwatto_cobrastantheman
  • Reply 4 of 32
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,285member
    As an Apple fan who has clear memory of Schmidt's treachery, I stop paying attention to what Schmidt does and says. Indeed why should anyone at Appleinsider care about Schmidt's retirement?
    i do because i hope he gets his karma.  i suspect that this time is not an accident...multiple female accusers at hand??
    Muntzanantksundaramleavingthebiggwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 32
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    This guy is coo coo for Cocoa Puffs thats all I know. 
    cornchip
  • Reply 6 of 32
    Overrated guy. 
    SpamSandwichStrangeDayscornchip
  • Reply 7 of 32
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    In my opinion, Jobs’s biggest foul-up was putting this man on the board in the first place. 
    edited December 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 32
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    He's probably off to bigger things, full-time...
    https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/

    patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 32
    Do you know why Apple never sued Schmidt for corporate espionage or Android for copyright infringement? Simple: Android didn't even support touchscreens until version 1.5. By then, the HTC Dream - a device that emulated the Blackberry, Microsoft CE and Nokia Symbian devices that preceded the iPhone - was on the market. It took Google until July 2009 - more than 2.5 years after the iPhone's design was made public - to so much as release an Android device that could support touchscreens. So either Schmidt stole ideas for Android from Apple ... and for some reason chose not to use them until 2009, and in the process incurred the risk that Microsoft, Nokia, Blackberry or some other competitor would beat them to market with a touchscreen design. Or Schmidt and Google saw the top-secret product for the first time in 2007 like everybody else, and UNLIKE Nokia, Blackberry, Microsoft etc. knew the device would succeed and immediately began to reverse engineer it. And since Apple didn't invent touchscreen mobile devices in the first place (that would have been IBM with the Simon in 1992) it was possible for them to do so without infringing on a single bit of Apple IP, or even needing to license tech from Apple (though they did need to license tech from Microsoft and others). Which is more likely? Answer .. the one that actually happened.
    singularity1STnTENDERBITSgatorguycroprmuthuk_vanalingamcornchipjony0
  • Reply 10 of 32
    My opinions (like any of you care) about him have varied wildly. I worked for the guy when he was CEO at Novell. He was seemingly such a vast improvement over the person he replaced, plus he was a former Sun exec, so I had a great opinion of him.

    But that opinion dropped due to his (felt like it) betrayal of Apple as a board member and (perhaps more importantly) his moral bankruptcy (look up info on his "marriage" and mistresses if you want.)

    However, in the past few years, I guess I've had my eyes opened a bit more and realized just how common both of those behaviors are for execs in all industries. I'm not sure that excuses him in any way, but it did make me realize that although he's a horrible human being in many ways, he's certainly not unique.
    watto_cobrapscooter63muthuk_vanalingamFoliocornchipjony0
  • Reply 11 of 32
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    badmonk said:
    As an Apple fan who has clear memory of Schmidt's treachery, I stop paying attention to what Schmidt does and says. Indeed why should anyone at Appleinsider care about Schmidt's retirement?
    i do because i hope he gets his karma.  i suspect that this time is not an accident...multiple female accusers at hand??
    I hope not for the females' sake.  /shudder ....
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 32
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member

    levansic said:
    He also served on the Apple board of directors between Aug. 28 2006 and Aug.3, 2009, and stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest  after Android had copied enough from the iPhone to really piss off Steve Jobs.
    .

    There.  Fixed it.
    Perfect edit.  
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 32
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    MacPro said:

    levansic said:
    He also served on the Apple board of directors between Aug. 28 2006 and Aug.3, 2009, and stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest  after Android had copied enough from the iPhone to really piss off Steve Jobs.
    .

    There.  Fixed it.
    Perfect edit.  
    Want the real reason Schmidt left? It was to hide the truth of what was truly going on.

    Sneaky Google planned ahead well, putting two trusted moles in place and by removing Schmidt prevented the surprisingly clueless Jobs from discovering the ACTUAL miscreant.  When Apple and Schmidt agreed to part ways everyone thought it was over but the real spy, a person who played an integral part in Google's success, was freed to continue his work but now with less chance of discovery: Arthur Levinson. /s




    edited December 2017 singularitymuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 14 of 32
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Is it me, or did three posts just vanish from this thread?
  • Reply 15 of 32
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Rayz2016 said:
    Is it me, or did three posts just vanish from this thread?
    ...sunglasses. 
    ;)
  • Reply 16 of 32
    Total Schmidthead.

    What a Schmidt show.

    Looks like Alphabet really Schmidt the bed.

  • Reply 17 of 32
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    gatorguy said:
    MacPro said:

    levansic said:
    He also served on the Apple board of directors between Aug. 28 2006 and Aug.3, 2009, and stepped down to avoid any conflicts of interest  after Android had copied enough from the iPhone to really piss off Steve Jobs.
    .

    There.  Fixed it.
    Perfect edit.  
    Want the real reason Schmidt left? It was to hide the truth of what was truly going on.

    Sneaky Google planned ahead well, putting two trusted moles in place and by removing Schmidt prevented the surprisingly clueless Jobs from discovering the ACTUAL miscreant.  When Apple and Schmidt agreed to part ways everyone thought it was over but the real spy, a person who played an integral part in Google's success, was freed to continue his work but now with less chance of discovery: Arthur Levinson. /s




    Refusing to take the bait ... :)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 32
    My opinions (like any of you care) about him have varied wildly. I worked for the guy when he was CEO at Novell. He was seemingly such a vast improvement over the person he replaced, plus he was a former Sun exec, so I had a great opinion of him.

    But that opinion dropped due to his (felt like it) betrayal of Apple as a board member and (perhaps more importantly) his moral bankruptcy (look up info on his "marriage" and mistresses if you want.)

    However, in the past few years, I guess I've had my eyes opened a bit more and realized just how common both of those behaviors are for execs in all industries. I'm not sure that excuses him in any way, but it did make me realize that although he's a horrible human being in many ways, he's certainly not unique.
    Eh. Notions of monogamy aren't what they once were. Several TED talks about ideas like Monogam-ish. I believe extra-martial affairs have always existed (not just executives mind you) but were hidden or not discussed, whereas now it's more common for spouses and dedicated partners to engage in a little sexual variety, recreational sex, swinging, whatever you wish to call it. Related but not the same, polyamory as a romantic lifestyle is popular within the California-techie demographic I was and am a part of (think Burning Man). None of this is morally bankrupt, it's just different than what most people were raised with. Other cultures have differing and sometimes more casual views of sexuality -- scandinavian, dutch, german...
    edited December 2017
  • Reply 20 of 32
    They are probably sidelining him because of sexual misconduct claims. That’s what is happening to everyone famous these days.
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