Eric Schmidt

The executive chairman of Google Inc. has told Boston University graduates they can compete for jobs and solve problems as the first generation to be fully connected. Eric Schmidt told more than 6,700 BU graduates on Sunday that they're part of the first fully connected generation the world has known. Schmidt, who ended a decade-long stint as CEO last year and turned the job over to Google co-founder Larry Page, acknowledged it's not a great economy to find a job. But he said young people have a competitive edge, which he said is a mastery of technology and the ability to...

The executive chairman of Google Inc. has told Boston University graduates they can compete for jobs and solve problems as the first generation to be fully connected. Eric Schmidt told more than 6,700 BU graduates on Sunday that they're part of the first fully connected generation the world has known. Schmidt, who ended a decade-long stint as CEO last year and turned the job over to Google co-founder Larry Page, acknowledged it's not a great economy to find a job. But he said young people have a competitive edge, which he said is a mastery of technology and the ability to...

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has mourned Steve Jobs' death but defended Google as a great innovator despite the Apple co-founder's allegations that the Internet search giant stole innovations from the iPhone. Schmidt told reporters Tuesday that he is still "very sad and recovering from the sense of loss" from Jobs' death last month and therefore does not think it's right to comment on Jobs' words in Walter Issacson's biography. The biography was released after Jobs' death and drips with vitriol as Jobs argues Google stole from Apple's iPhone to build many of the features in...

Shifting from Google's CEO to executive chairman proved to be lucrative career move for Eric Schmidt. Google Inc. awarded Schmidt a compensation package valued at $101 million last year, according to a Friday regulatory filing. The amount is 322 times higher than the $313,219 package that Schmidt received in 2010 during his final full year as the Internet search leader's CEO. Schmidt, 56, ended a decade-long stint as Google's CEO last April and turned over the job to Google co-founder Larry Page.

WASHINGTON — Google Inc. is road-testing cars that steer, stop, and start without a human driver, the company says. The goal is to “help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time, and reduce carbon emissions’’ through ride-sharing and “the new ‘highway trains of tomorrow,’ ’’ project leader Sebastian Thrun wrote on Google’s corporate blog. The cars are never unmanned, Thrun wrote. He said a backup driver is always behind the wheel to monitor the software.

WASHINGTON — Google Inc.’s reluctance to provide a top executive for testimony to a Senate panel probing its market power has prompted threats of subpoenas for chief executive Larry Page and chairman Eric Schmidt. In a letter dated June 10, the Democratic chairman and leading Republican on the antitrust subcommittee asked Google to provide one of the company’s two senior executives before Congress’s August recess. The letter urged a resolution “by agreement’’ to avoid “more formal procedures,’’ according to a copy of the letter obtained by Bloomberg News.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google yesterday confirmed a long-rumored deal that will bundle some of its software on Dell Inc.'s personal computers, providing the online search engine leader with another potentially potent weapon in its fierce rivalry with Microsoft Corp. "It's a really big deal for both companies," Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said at an Internet industry conference in Las Vegas. Financial terms weren't disclosed, an indication that the amount being paid isn't large enough to affect either of the companies' finances.

MINNEAPOLIS - Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said yesterday that it would be a mistake for Congress to approve Hollywood-backed legislation meant to combat online piracy because it would be ineffective and could alter the way the Internet works. Companion bills before the House and Senate would allow copyright holders to go to court to compel credit card companies and online advertising companies, including Google, to cut off websites dedicated to distributing pirated material.

A secretive gathering of senior government officials and business executives held a weekend meeting at the Swiss resort of St. Moritz that some liken to a shadow world government. The annual Bilderberg meeting’s Web site said its annual conference ending Sunday dealt mainly with challenges for growth, security and democracy in Europe, the Middle East and China. The group was formed more than a half-century ago to encourage better cooperation among leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

SAN FRANCISCO --Google Inc. cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each plan to sell up to 7.2 million shares of their stock in the online search engine leader during the next 18 months -- divestitures that would generate windfalls of more than $1 billion apiece at current market prices. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google disclosed the intentions of Page and Brin, both 31, late yesterday in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the same filing, Google also revealed that its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, plans to sell 2.2 million shares of his holdings to cash...

Now that he has been Google's CEO for a year, Larry Page may be ready to tackle some of the public-relations duties that typically accompany the job. Page opened up in a way that he hasn't previously with a Thursday dispatch that shared some of his thoughts about Google's past accomplishments and future possibilities. The post appeared on the company's website for investors and Page's personal profile on Google Plus, a social networking service that has become Page's pet project as he scrambles to counter the threat posed by Facebook's growing popularity.

MINNEAPOLIS - Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said yesterday that it would be a mistake for Congress to approve Hollywood-backed legislation meant to combat online piracy because it would be ineffective and could alter the way the Internet works. Companion bills before the House and Senate would allow copyright holders to go to court to compel credit card companies and online advertising companies, including Google, to cut off websites dedicated to distributing pirated material.

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. has named Arthur Levinson as its nonexecutive chairman, a move that rewards the longtime Apple board member who chose it over Google Inc. when the technology giants began to compete with each other. Levinson, 61, fills the vacancy left open when cofounder Steve Jobs died last month at age 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Jobs had been chairman for less than two months, a position created when he stepped down as chief executive in August.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has mourned Steve Jobs' death but defended Google as a great innovator despite the Apple co-founder's allegations that the Internet search giant stole innovations from the iPhone. Schmidt told reporters Tuesday that he is still "very sad and recovering from the sense of loss" from Jobs' death last month and therefore does not think it's right to comment on Jobs' words in Walter Issacson's biography. The biography was released after Jobs' death and drips with vitriol as Jobs argues Google stole...

Google Inc. CEO Larry Page's traditionally frosty relationship with Wall Street turned into a warm embrace Thursday after the Internet search leader released strong financial results for its latest quarter. The results represented Page's first report card since he became CEO at the start of the second quarter in April, ending the decade-long reign of his mentor, Eric Schmidt. Although he established himself as engineering and entrepreneurial genius as Google's co-founder, Page has made it clear since the company went public in 2004 that he is more interested in innovation than...

NEW YORK — Google Inc. has awarded $100 million worth of equity to Eric Schmidt, who is stepping aside as chief executive but will stay with the company as executive chairman. Google said in a regulatory filing yesterday the stock and stock options will be granted on Feb. 2 and will vest over four years. The magnitude of the award is “unusual’’ for an executive who is transitioning out of the chief executive role — and may even be unusual for sitting chief executives, said David Wise, senior principal at management consulting firm Hay Group.