Google's Larry Page back at work, recovering from illness
Web giant's 39-year-old co-founder is reportedly back at work after an undisclosed illness caused the loss of his voice and sidelined him from public events for several weeks.
Google co-founder Larry Page is recovering from an unspecified illness that sidelined him for several weeks and caused him to lose his voice, but he has returned to the office, Chairman Eric Schmidt said today, according to a report.
Page, who has missed several public company events in the past couple of weeks, has been taking meetings today at the Web giant's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, Schmidt told reporters at the annual Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, according to a Reuters account.
"He's still recovering. Larry is doing much better. He was in the office on Monday," Schmidt said. "Larry ran the meeting. He is talking, but talking softly."
CNET has contacted Google for additional comment and information and will update this report when we learn more.
Schmidt's remarks represent the first update the company has offered on the health of its 39-year-old co-founder.
Google said in mid-June that Page had missed his company's annual shareholders' meeting due to the loss of his voice but provided no other details. The Web giant then revealed that Page would attend neither last month's Google I/O developers conference nor the company's second-quarter earnings call set for July 19.
At least one analyst in June said his protracted absence from company events could raise questions with investors.
"We have no specific reason to think there is anything more to Larry's condition, but we find it odd that the company would already rule him out of the 2Q call which is likely still a few weeks away," JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in his note to investors.