Larry Page takes over as Google chief executive

Google co-founder Larry Page will officially take over the reins as chief executive from Eric Schmidt on Monday as changes at the very top of the web firm announced in January take effect.

In what was branded at the time as a "streamlining" effort to create clearer lines of responsibility and accountability, Schmidt moves across to become executive chairman.

Google's other co-founder, Sergey Brin, will continue to focus on strategic projects such as new products, the firm said.

"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," Page said of Schmidt in January.

"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."

While Page will take over the day-to-day running of the company, Schmidt's role will focus more on partnerships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, the firm said.

The former Novell chief executive will certainly be a hard act for Page to follow, having transformed Google from a search leader into one of the biggest brands in the world, expanding into the email, web browsing and operating systems markets.