Google CEO Larry Page Says "Nothing Seriously Wrong"

After Larry Page bowed out from some public appearances, reader Pigskin-Referee writes with the news that "Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page has reassured employees about his health, but the company on Friday shed little additional light on an unspecified condition affecting his voice that will sideline him from two high-profile events in the coming weeks. Page told employees in an email on Thursday that there was 'nothing seriously wrong with me,' according to a source who had seen an internal staff memo. The 39-year-old Google co-founder sat out his company's annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday because he had 'lost his voice,' according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who informed attendees of the news at the start of the event."

Comments

I hate shareholders

[Anonymous Coward]

"Oh. My. GOD. HE'S NOT IMMORTAL! He suffers minor illnesses like we do! THE COMPANY IS DOOMED! DOOMED! DOOOOOOOOOOMED! Somebody reassure us he's not dead already! HE'S BEEN DEAD ALL ALONG, HASN'T HE?!? Why do these terrible things have to happen to us? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy"

God, do I hate shareholders.

Re:I hate shareholders

[ArchieBunker]

Honestly I'm convinced you could replace a typical CEO with either a monkey or magic 8 ball and get similar results.

Re:I hate shareholders

[timeOday]

It's not fair to say that about Larry Page though. He invented page-rank and co-founded google. They were college students and made their own servers in pizza boxes. The worthless CEOs come in later, demanding the same pay as the founders who built the company from nothing.

no voice..

[TheGratefulNet]

no voice means Page has been reduced to ... (puts on sunglasses) ... a paragraph!

Robot speak

[WilyCoder]

Lost his voice? That doesn't seem to make Hawking miss any meetings...

This is news?

[slack_justyb]

Okay so he's got Laryngitis or something similar. Why the hell are people thinking this is news? I get Laryngitis from acid reflux from time to time, a couple of weeks Zantec usually clears it up, and I'm good for like the rest of the year.

I hate making Steve Jobs references, but I think news media is still hung up on mysterious health issues equaling pancreatic cancer or some similar terminal disease. Dude is unable to talk, and the company reports that it is not serious like most other health issues. For all we know the inability to speak is due to some contagious pathogen and he just wants to lay low so no one gets it, while he gets over it. I'm sure when Page was contemplating taking a leave of absence for a little spell, he didn't realize that he needed a press release to go along with it.

Of course there is the alternative theory could be that Page just had his meditation chamber installed and he's taking it for a spin. You know, if you're in that camp where Google is evil and all.

Page Should Take Inspiration from His Role Model

[RobotRunAmok]

Darth Vader did most of his best work after he lost his voice. I mean, c'mon, his focus is on Doing Evil, not singing friggin' madrigals, let's not make too much of this...

Drat, trackpad pressed "submit"

[kiwimate]

Okay, starting again...

* Knowledge of accounting - yes, you need this no matter what industry you're in. You simply MUST understand capital versus expense, A/R and A/P, GAPP, ratios, asset depreciation, etc. Yes, you have a CFO - but you'd better know what they're talking about
* Knowledge of risk management.
* Extremely detailed and extremely broad knowledge of the industry you're in.
* Knowledge of the *market* of your industry
* Strong analytics
* Strong skills in prioritizing
* Ability to explain very technical aspects of your industry to the layman
* Strategic wisdom
* Be a motivator
* Know where to ask for answers if you don't have them
* Ability to keep your mouth shut when necessary (talking to politicians and lobbyists, for instance)