Mum’s the word on Larry Page’s health.
Speculation about the Google CEO’s well-being ricocheted around Wall Street yesterday after the search giant told investors the 39-year-old boss will miss a series of speaking engagements due to an unspecified condition that caused Page to lose his voice.
When Page failed to show up at Google’s annual shareholder meeting in Mountain View, Calif., on Thursday, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt told attendees about Page and his voice — but added that the CEO would miss a number of public speaking events in the coming weeks.
Schmidt said Page will be a no-show at Google’s developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco next week, as well as its second-quarter earnings call on July 13 .
A typical case of laryngitis lasts two weeks, according to WebMD.com.
The long stretch out of the public eye prompted JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth to ask whether something more serious could be afoot.
“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,” Anmuth told clients in a note, according to tech blog BGR.
“We think this could raise some questions among investors,” said Anmuth, who noted that Page hasn’t posted on his Google+ blog since May 25.
Google officials didn’t return a request for comment.
On Thursday, Page sent Google employees an e-mail saying that “there is nothing seriously wrong with me” and that he would “continue to run the company,” the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Concerns about Page follow years of hand-wringing over Apple Inc.’s silence over CEO Steve Jobs’ health. Jobs suffered from pancreatic cancer and died last year.