Executive Chairman (and ex-CEO) Eric Schmidt was quick to allay fears that it was something too serious, mentioning that Page has 'lost his voice' and "can't do any public speaking engagements for the time being," but it was nothing life-threatening.
Whatever is going on, it is serious enough that he will miss the company's Q2 earnings call, too.
The media has collectively freaked out over this announcement, despite the fact that it isn't life-threatening. The reason, of course, has to do with the death of Steve Jobs. His illness had been widely speculated, but Apple gave very little information about his condition. His death took the world by surprise because no one realized just how close to death he had been.
Page is feeling the pressure of the Apple backlash that resulted. Despite probably being a simple case of bronchitis or some other voice impairing condition, the media is all over his condition. As wrote a JP Morgan analyst,
"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... We think this could raise some questions among investors."As with everyone else, I wish Page a quick recovery.