Who was the CEO of Google when it went public in August 2004?

Eric Schmidt was Google’s CEO when the company went public in August 2004.

Schmidt had served as Google’s chief executive since July 2001, joining founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as the company expanded beyond its early startup phase. Google’s initial public offering became effective on August 18, 2004, and the shares began trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol GOOG on August 19.

The IPO used a distinctive Dutch-auction process intended to broaden participation and determine the offering price through investor bids. Google ultimately sold shares to the public at $85 each, raising hundreds of millions of dollars and giving the company a market value of roughly $23 billion at the offering price.

Page and Brin were central to Google’s technology and founding story, but neither was the company’s CEO at the IPO. Schmidt was selected for operational and management experience, while the founders retained major influence and voting control through Google’s dual-class share structure. Schmidt later became executive chairman and returned as an adviser after leaving the CEO role.