Wow, this totally came out of left field. Eric Schmidt just announced that he is stepping down as Google's CEO -- a position that he has held since August 2001. Google co-founder Larry Page will take over the CEO position effective April 4, 2011.

Here's a clip from Schmidt's blog post announcing his departure from the captain's chair:

For the last 10 years, we have all been equally involved in making decisions. This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. But we have also agreed to clarify our individual roles so there’s clear responsibility and accountability at the top of the company…

We are confident that this focus will serve Google and our users well in the future. Larry, Sergey and I have worked exceptionally closely together for over a decade—and we anticipate working together for a long time to come. As friends, co-workers and computer scientists we have a lot in common, most important of all a profound belief in the potential for technology to make the world a better place. We love Google—our people, our products and most of all the opportunity we have to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.

Although Schmidt will no longer be Google’s CEO, he will stay on as Chairman and will serve as an advisor for Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

During Schmidt’s time at the helm, Google has become the dominant search engine on the internet, expanded its reach into about every possible aspect of our online lives (YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Google Checkout, Google Docs, etc.), launched a smartphone operating system that is gobbling up market share globally, and is in the process of taking on the desktop/notebook OS market with Chrome OS. 

The news comes on the same day that Google reported a 26 percent increase in Q4 income to $8.44 billion. GAAP operating income came in at $2.98 billion compared to $2.48 billion for 2009.