San Francisco, Dec 22 (IANS): Eric Schmidt, a long-serving Google executive, will step down as Executive Chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet in January, the company has announced.

Schmidt will become a technical advisor to the company while continuing to serve on its board.

"Since 2001, Eric has provided us with business and engineering expertise and a clear vision about the future of technology," Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet, said in a statement late on Thursday.

"Continuing his 17 years of service to the company, he'll now be helping us as a technical advisor on science and technology issues," Page added.

Schmidt made the decision with Google's founders Page and Sergey Brin and Indian-born Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

"Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet's evolution for this transition. The Alphabet structure is working well, and Google and the Other Bets are thriving," said Schmidt.

Page and Brin founded Google in September 1998.

Since then, the company has grown to more than 70,000 employees worldwide, with a wide range of popular products and platforms like Search, Maps, Ads, Gmail, Android, Chrome and YouTube.

In October 2015, Alphabet became the parent holding company of Google.

"After ten years as CEO and seven as Executive Chairman, I can't wait to dive into the latest in science, technology, and philanthropy. I look forward to working with Larry and Sergey on our future here at Alphabet," Schmidt tweeted.

Schmidt was often the face of Google and Alphabet with policymakers.