Google goes on the attack: Larry Page to take over as CEO from Eric Schmidt in shock move as company faces Facebook threat

• Last year Facebook overtook Google to become most visited site on planet

Google's co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO from Eric Schmidt, a surprise move to make the company more nimble at a time when competition heats up with fast-growing rivals like Facebook.

Page's assumption of day-to-day operations marks a return to Google's technological roots, 13 years after he and fellow Stanford University student Sergey Brin founded what has become the world's No. 1 search engine with $29 billion a year in revenue.

'Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!' Schmidt tweeted after the announcement.

Larry Page, left, has taken over from Eric Schmidt, right, as CEO of Google

The news came as Google reported earnings and revenue that blew past expectations.

While Google has dominated internet search for a decade, the company has struggled to find its footing in social networking, with a new crop of web companies such as Facebook and Twitter stealing traffic and engineering talent.

'As spending was curbed and order restored over the last few years, some of that Google magic was lost,' said Tricia Salinero, managing director of Newforth Partners, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, in an email.

Last year Facebook ousted Google to become the most visited site on the planet.

Page's assumption of day-to-day operations marks a return to Google's technological roots, 13 years after he co-founded the world's No. 1 search engine

However, Schmidt, who will step aside on April 4 and make way for Page, claimed that the change was 'not a reaction to competitors'.

Rather, he said, it was an effort to speed up decision making at the company, which ended the year with about 24,000 employees.

'Google has many different businesses and the issue that we have been getting into is there's too many ways (in) which these businesses can be slowed down,' Schmidt said.

New CEO Page paid tribute to Schmidt as his new role was announced.

He said: 'Eric has clearly done an outstanding job leading Google for the last decade. The results speak for themselves. 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.

'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.'

Schmidt, who became CEO in 2001 to bring more management experience to a then-fledgling company, will assume the role of executive chairman, focusing on deals and government outreach, among other things. Brin will concentrate on strategic projects.