eric schmidt

Google's novel stock split will create a new class of shares with no voting rights. Confused? Google CEO Larry Page thought you might be, so he offered an explanatory note. Here's our read-between-the-lines translation of what he was really saying.

Google has faced heavy criticism since it announced its first-ever stock split, which creates a new class of nonvoting shares. Don't believe the hype. If you were happy owning Google stock before, you should be just as pleased now. Here's why:

Google CEO Larry Page, Chairman Eric Schmidt and co-founder Sergey Brin will gain greater influence over the company thanks to an unusual stock-split maneuver that will create a whole new class of Google shares with no voting rights.

The motto of this year's Consumer Electronics Show: You can't be too fast, too skinny or too connected. Beginning Tuesday, anorexic HDTVs and super-skinny laptops will vie for attention with accelerated WiFi devices and TVs that smartly connect to multiple devices simultaneously.

Google's shares have fallen 15% in the last three months while the S&P 500 has traded flat. This share price decline seems odd when contrasted with the spectacular success Google has been experiencing with its Android mobile OS. But there are good reasons Wall Street isn't impressed.

Google has been dead money for the last year -- up just 3% vs. 12.6% for the S&P 500. The Internet giant's biggest problem is its inability to diversify its revenue sources. Author Peter Cohan pulls out his Innovation Quotient to suggest how new CEO Larry Page might correct that.

Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, has only six weeks to live, according to the National Enquirer. The often sensationalist tabloid published photos in of Jobs looking extremely thin and frail, according to TNT magazine.

Last month, 96 CEO changes were announced by U.S. based companies, reports job-services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, among them the heads of Google and Advanced Micro Devices. The number is down 9% from December, but 8% higher than January 2010, when 89 CEOs left their corner offices behind.

As Larry Page takes the reins from CEO Eric Schmidt, the questions for investors are: Will Facebook keep gaining on Google? Or will Page steer it back to its original counter-corporate spirit, embracing risk over short-term profits? Or have the risk-takers gone soft?

The search giant's co-founder will replace CEO Eric Schmidt, who replaced Page in 2001. Back then, Google's investors believed the company needed a more mature leader. Now, says Schmidt: "I believe Larry is ready." Oh yeah: Google reported blowout earnings.