Top Google executives promised to stay together for 20 years

Google Inc.'s top three executives, Eric Schmidt, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pledged to stay together for the next 20 years just before Google went public in August 2004.

Google’s Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt gave an interview to Fortune magazine where they said they agreed to work together for 20 years, beginning one month before the company went public. When asked when they made the agreement, Schmidt said:

Two years, seven months, and four days ago. But who's counting? Actually, we agreed the month before we went public that we would work together for 20 years. I will be 69, and according to Google I'm going to live to 84, so I should be fine.

When the agreement ends Page will be 51 and Brin 50 years old. Schmidt is Google's chairman and oversees all the operations, Larry Page is the president of products and Sergey Brin is the president of technology. Such a long-range commitment shows their seriousness in bringing Google to the top and creating innovative products. It also shows the trust between them. Google will announce its fourth quarter financial results on Thursday and according to Wall Street, Google is expected to announce record revenue of $16.6 billion, an increase of 57 per cent over the previous year. In the interview with Fortune, the three Google execs were also asked about how they treat their employees so well, to which Larry Page replied: "Its common sense: Happy people are more productive." Google was also rated the best place to work for the second successive year by Fortune magazine. Now you know the reason why.