Editing Larry Page (section)

=== 2001–2011 ===
[[File:Schmidt-Brin-Page-20080520.jpg|thumb|Left to right, [[Eric Schmidt]], [[Sergey Brin]] and Larry Page, 2008]]

==== Changes in management and expansion ====
Before Silicon Valley's two most prominent investors, [[Kleiner Perkins]] and [[Sequoia Capital]], agreed to invest a combined total of $50 million in Google, they applied pressure on Page to step down as CEO so that a more experienced leader could build a "world-class management team." Page eventually became amenable to the idea after meeting with other technology CEOs, including [[Steve Jobs]] and Intel's [[Andrew Grove]]. [[Eric Schmidt]], who had been hired as chairman of Google in March 2001, left his full-time position as the CEO of [[Novell]] to take the same role at Google in August of the same year, and Page moved aside to assume the president of products role.<ref name="Car"/>

Under Schmidt's leadership, Google underwent a period of major growth and expansion, which included its [[initial public offering]] (IPO) on August 20, 2004. He always acted in consultation with Page and Brin when he embarked on initiatives such as the hiring of an executive team and the creation of a [[sales force management system]]. Page remained the boss at Google in the eyes of the employees, as he gave final approval on all new hires, and it was Page who provided the signature for the IPO, the latter making him a billionaire at the age of 30.<ref name="Car"/>

Page led the acquisition of [[Android (operating system)|Android]] for $50 million in 2005 to fulfill his ambition to place handheld computers in the possession of consumers so that they could access Google anywhere. The purchase was made without Schmidt's knowledge, but the CEO was not perturbed by the relatively small acquisition. Page became passionate about Android and spent large amounts of time with Android CEO and cofounder [[Andy Rubin]]. By September 2008, [[T-Mobile US|T-Mobile]] launched the G1, the first phone using Android software and, by 2010, 17.2% of the handset market consisted of Android sales, overtaking Apple for the first time. Android became the world's most popular mobile operating system shortly afterward.<ref name="Car"/>

==== Assumption of CEO position at Google ====
Following a January 2011 announcement,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704881304576094340081291776?mod=googlenews_wsj | title=Google's Page to Replace Schmidt as CEO | work=The Wall Street Journal | first=Amir | last=Efrati | date=January 21, 2011 | access-date=August 8, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816061610/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704881304576094340081291776?mod=googlenews_wsj | archive-date=August 16, 2017 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Page officially became the chief executive of Google on April 4, 2011, while Schmidt stepped down to become executive chairman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.google.com/about/company/facts/management/#section-board |title=Management team – Company|access-date=September 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230160111/http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/management/#section-board |archive-date=December 30, 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> By this time, Google had over $180 billion market capitalization and more than 24,000 employees.<ref>[http://www.maintour.com/meritbadge/american_business.htm American Business BSA Merit Badge Guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906031557/http://www.maintour.com/meritbadge/american_business.htm |date=September 6, 2015 }}, June 22, 2015.</ref> Reporter Max Nisen described the decade prior to Page's second appointment as Google's CEO as Page's "lost decade" saying that while he exerted significant influence at Google via product development and other operations, he became increasingly disconnected and less responsive over time.<ref name="Car" /><ref name="Max">{{cite news|author1=Max Nisen|title=Larry Page's lost decade was the best thing to ever happen to Google|url=http://qz.com/202710/larry-pages-lost-decade-was-the-best-thing-to-ever-happen-to-google/|access-date=February 6, 2015|work=Quartz|date=April 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202103627/http://qz.com/202710/larry-pages-lost-decade-was-the-best-thing-to-ever-happen-to-google/|archive-date=February 2, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Schmidt announced the end of his tenure as CEO on January 20, 2011, jokingly tweeting on Twitter: "Adult-supervision no longer needed."<ref>{{cite tweet|number=28196946376130560|user=ericschmidt|title=Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed! https://x.com/ericschmidt/status/28196946376130560|date=January 20, 2011}}</ref>