Investors rejoice as Schmidt steps aside, Larry Page becomes Google CEO

On a conference call with analysts Thursday Google management unveiled a surprise change in its upper ranks, replacing the current CEO Eric Schmidt with Larry Page, the company's co-founder and previous CEO.

Schmidt said the changes had come after several internal discussions in which they came to the conclusion thus far that sharing responsibility for all decisions at Google adds delay and so forth in the way we make decisions.

Things will run much better, Schmidt said, by elevating me and having Larry running things day-to-day.

The Internet search leader also said that the company's other co-founder, Sergey Brin, will focus on special projects.

Investors rejoiced, sending shares up 2 percent in after hours trading.

We are OK with the move, UBS's Brian Pitz told Reuters. To be frank with you, pre-IPO one of the big issues on the stock was it was a triumvirate management team.

Analysts also noted that while both Page and Brin were young when they first started, their experience has honed them to make the decisions necessary.

Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed! Schmidt tweeted after the announcement.

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

Net revenue, excluding fees paid to partner websites, was $6.37 billion while Wall Street was expecting net revenue of $6.06 billion on average.

Google posted net income, excluding items, of $8.75 a share, outstripping Wall Street's average forecast of $8.10.