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"It seems that the move may not have only ended Google&amp;#8217;s presence in China, but also\u00A0Schmidt&amp;#8217;s\u00A0tenure.\n\n  \nIn a piece in the New Yorker, \n  Googled \nAuthor Ken Auletta argues that the decision to pull Google \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGOOG\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t \u00A0out of China was the turning point \u00A0for outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt in his decision to step down from the company&amp;#8217;s Chief Executive role.\nAccording to close advisors, the Google C.E.O. was upset a year ago when co-founder Larry Page sided with his founding partner, Sergey Brin, to withdraw censored searches from China. Schmidt did not hide his belief that Google should stay in the world\u2019s largest consumer marketplace.\n&amp;#8230;\nNudged by a board-member friend and an outside advisor that he had to re-energize himself, he decided after Labor Day that he could reboot.\nHe couldn\u2019t. By the end of the year, he was ready to jump on his own.\nUltimately the fact that Schmidt was not making the tough decisions was demotivating.\nBy most accounts, the three Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Schmidt often agree, but when they don&amp;#8217;t Schmidt finds himself on opposing sides of Brin and Page is the tie breaker. \u00A0It makes sense, then, that Page takes the helm as he was the one that ultimately decided which direction to take Google. \u00A0Brin is also taking a back seat of sorts, moving into projects he&amp;#8217;s &amp;#8220;personally passionate about&amp;#8221;, not necessarily at Google.\n\nAuletta also indicates that Schmidt&amp;#8217;s role as Chairman might not be a\u00A0permanent\u00A0one, but one that will be a year long\u00A0transition\u00A0as Schmidt looks for other roles outside the company. \u00A0Indeed, Schmidt announces a plan to take a pretty big stock payout which seems to indicate a departure is in the works.\nIncidentally, Auletta&amp;#8217;s book is being made into a movie, one which will now have a major plot turn."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2011/01/23/did-the-china-decision-mark-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-eric-schmidt/>