Google CEO says vocal cords affected by 'very rare' condition

SAN FRANCISCO - Reuters

Photo dated May 21, 2012 shows Google CEO Larry Page at a press annoucement at Google headquarters in New York.

Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page provided the first public details of the voice ailment that sidelined him from speaking engagements last summer, saying that he has limited movement in his left and right vocal cords. 

 The 40-year-old co-founder of the world's No. 1 Internet search engine said that doctors have been unable to identify a cause for his "very rare" vocal cord issues, but that he has been making progress in his recovery and is "fully able to do all I need to at home and at work," he wrote on his Google+ page on May 14.

He also noted that he had been diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2003, which he described as a "fairly common inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no problems." He said it was unclear if this is a factor in his vocal cord condition or if both conditions were triggered by a virus.

Page said he has arranged to fund a significant research program through the Voice Health Institute, which will be lead by one of the doctors that he has consulted for his condition. 

Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998, reclaimed the CEO title in April 2011 after a decade under the stewardship of Eric Schmidt. Google controls roughly two-thirds of the world's search market and its Android smartphone operating system is the world's most popular mobile software.

Google is due to hold its annual developer conference in San Francisco beginning on May 15. It is not clear if Page will speak at the event, which he did not speak at last year because of the voice condition.

Page said on May 14 that he was diagnosed with left vocal cord paralysis about 14 years ago after suffering a bad cold, Page said.

"Fast forward to last summer, when the same pattern repeated itself - a cold followed by a hoarse voice," Page said. 

"Once again things didn't fully improve, so I went in for a check-up and was told that my second vocal cord now had limited movement as well," he explained. Shares of Google, which have traded at all-time highs in recent weeks, were up 1.05 percent at $886.79.