Google I/
Google CEO Larry Page declared during the third quarter earnings call on Thursday that he will not be appearing on all future conference calls going forward, immediately spurring speculation about his health once again.
Page's health has been a source of constant rumors and worries among consumers, investors, and analysts for more than a year now since he canceled his appearance at the Internet giant's annual developer summit I/O in June 2012.
After months of being absent from the spotlight, Page made his first public comments about the state of his health in a Google+ blog post just ahead of Google I/O 2013 in May.
Page followed that up with a surprise appearance and Q&A session during the general keynote at I/O that week, a move in itself likely crafted to reassure followers that the Google chief was doing better.
However, Page's announcement on Thursday likely won't sit well with analysts and investors -- either because they'll be more concerned about the foundation of Google's leadership team or because they'll think they're being spurned for some other unknown reason.
Nevertheless, Google shares continued to climb in after-hours trading by approximately seven percent following Page's remarks.
Without providing any further explanation as to his future planned absences, Page specified that future calls will be led by chief financial officer Patrick Pichette and chief business officer Nikesh Arora.
Here's a brief recap on the initial response in the Twittersphere:
Larry Page says he won't be on future earnings call. His voice is shaky. Investors won't like this.
— Ben Popper (@benpopper) October 17, 2013
Larry Page says he won't join $GOOG earnings calls anymore. to "prioritize my time." As in, stock analysts & reporters are not a priority?
— Claire Cain Miller (@clairecm) October 17, 2013
Larry Page mentions Google watch. That will get tongues wagging. Then said he won't be on every earnings call, also will get tongues wagging
— Jessica Guynn (@jguynn) October 17, 2013
Larry Page sounding hoarse, says he won't be appearing on every earnings calls going forward. says he wants to prioritize his time
— BrandonBailey (@BrandonBailey) October 17, 2013
Of course, Larry Page fields the technology question on voice recognition software. Passes off financial question on ads to Nikesh Arora.
— Dan_Rowinski (@Dan_Rowinski) October 17, 2013