Google CEO Schmidt to step down, hand reins to Larry Page

谷歌宣布联合创始人拉里取代施密特担任CEO

Breaking News: In a surprise announcement, Eric Schmidt announced today that he's stepping down as CEO of Google. Co-founder Larry Page will assume those duties as of April 4th. Schmidt, who joined Google in 2001 to provide "adult supervision," will remain as executive chairman and will continue to work as an adviser to both Page and co-founder Sergey Brin.

近日，谷歌作出一项惊人决定。埃里克•施密特将卸任谷歌CEO，联合创始人拉里•佩奇将在今年四月接替这一职务。施密特于2001年加入谷歌，并以出色的实力被称为“福将”，今后他将转任公司执行董事长，与谢尔盖、布林一道，负责谷歌与其他公司的关系。

“Larry, Sergey and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making — and over the holidays we decided now was the right moment to make some changes to the way we are structured,” Schmidt wrote in a blog post.

施密特也在公司官方博客上发表文章称，他与谢尔盖、拉里在如何简化管理结构和加快决策上谈了很长时间，在圣诞节过后，他们决定对公司高管层进行改组。

Here's the rest of the message from Schmidt:

以下是施密特的博客全文：

When I joined Google in 2001 I never imagined—even in my wildest dreams—that we would get as far, as fast as we have today. Search has quite literally changed people’s lives—increasing the collective sum of the world’s knowledge and revolutionizing advertising in the process. And our emerging businesses—display, Android, YouTube and Chrome—are on fire. Of course, like any successful organization we’ve had our fair share of good luck, but the entire team—now over 24,000 Googlers globally—deserves most of the credit.

2001年在我刚加入谷歌时，虽然我有最疯狂的梦想，但我从未想到过我们会发展得这么快，走得这么远。现在搜索已经悄悄地改变了人们的生活，提高了世界知识总量，并在这个过程中对广告产生了革命性影响。我们的新兴业务--展示广告、Android、YouTube和Chrome都蒸蒸日上。当然，如同任何成功的组织一样，我们有运气好的成分，但整个团队--现在全球职员数已超过24000人--的努力是最主要的。

And as our results today show, the outlook is bright. But as Google has grown, managing the business has become more complicated. So Larry, Sergey and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making—and over the holidays we decided now was the right moment to make some changes to the way we are structured.

正如我们今天发布的财务结果所显示的，公司的前景一片光明。但随着谷歌不断发展壮大，管理业务已变得更加复杂。所以，我和拉里、谢尔盖谈了很长时间，讨论了如何最好地简化我们的管理结构和加快决策，圣诞节过后我们决定，现在是时候调整我们的结构适应变化。

For the last 10 years, we have all been equally involved in making decisions. This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. But we have also agreed to clarify our individual roles so there’s clear responsibility and accountability at the top of the company.

过去10年里，我们都平等地参与决策。这种三驾马车的管理方式在共享智慧上确实有好处，我们将继续在三人之间讨论重大决策。但我们也同意，为明确我们各自的责任，需要在公司高层建立清晰的责任制和问责制。

Larry will now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths, and starting from April 4 he will take charge of our day-to-day operations as Google’s Chief Executive Officer. In this new role I know he will merge Google’s technology and business vision brilliantly. I am enormously proud of my last decade as CEO, and I am certain that the next 10 years under Larry will be even better! Larry, in my clear opinion, is ready to lead.

拉里现在将负责产品开发和技术战略，这是他最大的优势。从4月4日，他将负责我们的日常工作，担任谷歌的首席执行官。在新的岗位上，我认为他能出色地融合 谷歌的技术和商业眼光。我对过去10年担任CEO感到非常自豪，我坚信未来10年在拉里的领导下会更好！我可以肯定，拉里已经为领导公司做好了准备。

Sergey has decided to devote his time and energy to strategic projects, in particular working on new products. His title will be Co-Founder. He’s an innovator and entrepreneur to the core, and this role suits him perfectly.

谢尔盖已决定将时间和精力放在战略项目上，特别是新产品的开发。他的头衔依然是公司联合创始人。他是公司核心的革新者和企业家，这个头衔非常适合他。

As Executive Chairman, I will focus wherever I can add the greatest value: externally, on the deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership that are increasingly important given Google’s global reach; and internally as an advisor to Larry and Sergey.

作为执行董事长，我将关注我能带来最大价值的地方：从外部来说，是负责并购交易、合作伙伴、客户和更广泛的企业合作、政府沟通和技术领导，鉴于谷歌的全球影响力，这些都将日益重要；从内部来说，我将担任拉里和谢尔盖的顾问。

We are confident that this focus will serve Google and our users well in the future. Larry, Sergey and I have worked exceptionally closely together for over a decade—and we anticipate working together for a long time to come. As friends, co-workers and computer scientists we have a lot in common, most important of all a profound belief in the potential for technology to make the world a better place. We love Google—our people, our products and most of all the opportunity we have to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.

我们相信，这种关注将在未来能很好地服务于谷歌和用户。拉里、谢尔盖和我已经密切合作了10年--未来我们还将合作很长时间。作为朋友、同事和电脑科学 家，我们有很多共同点，最重要的是我们完全相信科技能改变世界。我们爱谷歌--爱我们的职员、产品及所有可改善全世界无数人们生活的机会。