About 10 days ago, the world of technology was stunned when Eric Schmidt, 55, decided to step down as CEO of Google – bringing to an end a decade long era. In this one decade Google became the most powerful Internet company in the world. In 2001 Google had less than $100 million in annual revenue and approximately 300 employees. Today Google is $29 billion strong and employs 24,000 employees globally. Of course, a lot happened during this one decade. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Groupon etc. came into existence. A decade ago there was absolutely no threat to Google’s search and advertising revenues. Perhaps that made Google a little complacent towards the idea that the Internet era was all about change – a change that kept users glued to you. Although people may have different views about the future of incumbent Google, I feel that Google’s $35 billion bank balance is under tremendous threat from the current players including Facebook which is estimated to corner about $4 billion in advertising revenue during 2011. While Facebook is the current threat to Google but given the nature of Internet business, tomorrow it could be any other company. While Google has been able to secure its leadership position in the Internet space, its ignorance of the emerging trends in social networking [which Facebook and Twitter exploited] made it a foot-dragger. Will it be possible for Google to crush the popularity and following of Facebook? My answer is ‘No’. While Google may be surging ahead with its ‘Android OS’ in the mobile space, it hasn't been able to develop a compelling social networking platform to counter Facebook - a delay that is the writing on the wall. Will this leadership change help Google regain its supremacy, which it lost to newcomers? Will Larry Page, the founder of Google and its CEO before Schmidt took over in 2001, be able to make Google nimble again? I don’t think that even Page can answer this question with conviction. Surely Facebook and Twitter have challenged Google’s supremacy in more ways than one. The tag of being a ‘cool’ Internet company doesn’t remain with Google anymore. The way Facebook has engaged with it users – half a billion and counting – is far more intriguing than Google. Also, Larry Page will have to transform from a ‘not-so-managed’ manager to a strategic leader and take some of the decisions imperative to rekindling the innovations that made Google Internet top dog in the first place.