Reno - 4:33 am on Sep 15, 2011 (gmt 0)

Page is in a precarious position. As the co-founder he garnered enormous respect (and wealth), but another guy (Schmidt) built the company into the megalith it is today. Then Eric walked away with Google at the very top, richer than anyone could have ever predicted, a true power in every sense of the word.

Exit Schmidt, re-enter Larry Page. If LP loses money at this point, he'll see himself disparaged by financial commentators in every form of media, and the stock value will drop. They'll credit him for starting the company, but will say he didn't have what it takes to run it now that it's one of the world's most profitable corporations. His ego/self respect/historical position cannot let that happen, so he is inevitably going to pursue profits by any means necessary.

That is why I keep saying over & over that the Google of old is gone forever and it ain't coming back. We had all better get used to this search company pursuing a philosophy that will guarantee strong profits with every new quarter. At long as that happens, the people that really matter to the CEO (the major stockholders) will be happy, whether the SERPs quality is up, down or remains the same.

Larry Page has no intention of joining Jerry Yang, and unfortunately, he apparently does not have the charisma or vision to join Steve Jobs, so what we see is what we get, and we'd better get used to it. It ain't pretty now, and it won't get any prettier in a week, a month, or a year. The Google we knew and loved is gone... RIP.

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