Alphabet has announced that Eric Schmidt will step down as executive chairman and will take on the role of technical adviser on the company’s board at the end of 2017.
Schmidt served as Google’s chief executive in 2001 and became its executive chairman a decade later, retaining his position when the tech giant restructured to form Alphabet Inc.
Alphabet’s board will now most likely appoint a new, non-executive chairman at its next meeting in January.
“Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet’s evolution for this transition,” said Schmidt.
“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.”
In his new role, he is tipped to advise the company’s urban development arm, Sidewalk Labs with its deep learning efforts, as well as its healthcare startups Verily and Calico.