Eric Schmidt is out and Larry Page is in as Google's CEO, but Schmidt isn't completely out of the picture. He will continue working with Page and Google's other co-founder, Sergey Brin, when he becomes an advisor in the role of executive chairman in April.

The announcement came as Google reported its fourth-quarter results, which include net income of $2.54 billion and revenues of $8.44 billion. A year ago, Google's net income was $1.96 billion and its revenues were $6.67 billion, marking a 26 percent increase in revenues.

In a press release, Google's leaders characterized the management shuffle as one that has been in the works for quite a while. Schmidt stated: "By clarifying our individual roles we'll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I'm excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come."

Page lauded Schmidt for doing an "outstanding job" for the last decade. "There is no other CEO in the world that could have kept such headstrong founders so deeply involved and still run the business so brilliantly," he said. "Eric is a tremendous leader and I have learned innumerable lessons from him. His advice and efforts will be invaluable to me as I start in this new role. Google still has such incredible opportunity – we are only at the beginning and I can't wait to get started."