Very interesting development in the land of Google, Eric Schmidt is stepping down to become executive chairman with Larry Page taking over as CEO. Did they take a page out of the Steve Jobs play book or what? Google stock is up after hours, high print was 653, currently trading 643.

GOOGLE Q4 EPS
Google reports Q4 EPS $8.75 vs. consensus $8.09
Reports Q4 revenue ex-tac $6.37B vs. consensus $6.06B

( writes) "Schmidt, who became CEO in 2001, will assume the role of executive chairman, focusing on deals and government outreach, among other things.

Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin, will take charge of day-to-day operations as CEO.

Google also reported fourth-quarter financial results, beating Wall Street's net revenue expectations.

Net revenue, excluding fees that Google paid to partner websites, was $6.37 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, on average, were expecting net revenue of $6.06 billion."

 Per GOOG conference call ""We have touched just 1% of the capabilities that could be deployed in that realm, and I think you should expect us to continue to develop those kind of capabilities."