Long-time Google CEO Eric Schmidt given up the role of the board of directors of the umbrella company Alphabet.

He wants to engage more with science, technology and charity, said Schmidt on Thursday.

He would remain as a member of the board and continue to act as a consultant, said Alphabet.

The 62-year-old was brought to the top of Google in 2001, as a kind of "adult supervisor" for the young founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

10 years later he relinquished the CEO position to Page and became the chairman of the board. He also kept this job when in 2015 the new umbrella company Alphabet was founded.