Eric Schmidt on its list of the 50 most important people on the Web, along with Google co-founders Page and Brin. Schmidt is one of a few people who became billionaires (in United States dollars) based on stock options received as employees in corporations of which they were neither the founders nor relatives of the founders. In its 2011 'World's Billionaires' list, "Forbes" ranked Schmidt as the 136th-richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $7 billion. On 20 January 2011, Google announced that Schmidt would step down as the CEO of Google but continue as the executive chairman of
Samuel J. Palmisano Samuel J. Palmisano Samuel J. Palmisano (born July 29, 1951) was president and the eighth chief executive officer of IBM until January 2012. He also served as Chairman of the company until October 1, 2012. Palmisano was appointed president and chief operating officer (COO) effective in October 2000. He was promoted to CEO in March 2002, while retaining the title of president, and named chairman effective January 1, 2003. Palmisano announced on October 25, 2011 that he was stepping aside as president and CEO. He was succeeded in these positions by Ginni Rometty. As of 2009 IBM was the largest