Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hand over the reins to co-founder Larry Page, the company said on Thursday.

According to Google, Schmidt will assume the role of executive chairman, focusing on deals and government outreach, among other things.

Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin, will take charge of day-to-day operations as CEO.

Google also reported fourth-quarter financial results, beating Wall Street's net revenue expectations.

Net revenue, excluding fees that Google paid to partner websites, was $6.37 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, on average, were expecting net revenue of $6.06 billion

(Editing by Anshuman Daga, Tim Dobbyn and Richard Chang)

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