Google co-founder Sergey Brin, 27, will relinquish his chairman title, although he will remain as president. Co-founder Larry Page will remain in his role as chief executive.
The appointment comes two weeks after networks software provider Novell acquired a new chief executive with its purchase of Cambridge Technology Partners. The US$266 million deal will hand the reins to Cambridge Technology President and CEO Jack Messman, with Schmidt hanging on as chairman and chief strategist.
The new appointment comes at a critical juncture for Google. The company has gained considerable popularity for its no-nonsense search technology, which ranks its results based on how many sites link to them. But Google stands in the middle of an industrywide storm underscored by doubts over online advertising's effectiveness and demands for companies to show profits.
Schmidt joins a board composed of some of Silicon Valley's most influential powerbrokers. Along with Google's Brin and Page, venture capitalists John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital sit on the board. Former Amazon executive Ram Shiram is also a member.
The new head of Google's board will play a significant role in the search company, but it is unclear if he will have operating responsibility. A Google representative said the company has not announced any plans for Schmidt to take a more day-to-day role. Those details will likely come once his departure from Novell's CEO post is final, pending the closure of the Cambridge Technology Partners acquisition.
Schmidt also sits on the boards of Siebel Systems, Integrated Archive Systems and Tilion.
Despite these roles, he may be eager to associate with a less-entrenched company such as Google. Schmidt had traversed rocky road as chief executive at Novell, briefly laying a smooth path for a renaissance at the aging network software provider before succumbing to issues that have plagued Novell for years.
The former Sun Microsystems technology guru came to Novell in early 1997 in the hopes of making the company's software Internet-friendly. It has fallen on hard times in recent quarters, however, as new products have been slower to take off than expected.
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