Alphabet's Schmidt quits as executive chairman

Alphabet on Thursday said its Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will step down from his position to become a technical adviser as of its next regular board meeting in January.

He will continue to serve on the Alphabet's board of directors, the company said.  

"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."

"I'm incredibly excited about the progress our companies are making and about the strong leaders who are driving that innovation," said Chief Executive Larry Page. Schmidt, who was recruited to the company by Google Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, served as chief executive of the company from 2001 through 2011. Schmidt was instrumental to growing the company from a Mountain View, California, internet search startup into a publicly traded, global business with multiple products and business units, former Google employees said.

While Page and Brin would focus on the company's technology and the product strategies, Schmidt would focus on how to scale every product to a global level, said Bismarck Lepe, CEO of San Francisco startup Wizeline and a Google employee from 2003 until 2007.