The story of Sundar Pichai dates back to his humble beginnings in Tamil Nadu, India, where he grew up in a low-income family that barely made ends meet. Due to his love for innovation and technology, Pichai continued to study at esteemed universities in India and the United States through scholarships which helped him gain substantial knowledge about production technology. He began working at an entry-level job at Google and, after assisting on various product-related projects, found himself as one of the most trusted employees at Google. When founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin looked for a new CEO, they had Sundar Pichai take the lead, who also became the CEO of the parent company Alphabet.
Through sheer hard work and determination, Sundar Pichai has established a name for himself worldwide and amassed a net worth of a whopping $600 million. His life story begins in a small home in Tamil Nadu and continues by becoming an essential member of Silicon Valley. Let’s take a look at Sundar Pichai’s life story and how he revolutionized Google.
Starting Young With Technology
Sundar Pichai was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where his father worked as an electric engineer for GEC while his mother was a stenographer. From an incredibly young age, he showed excellent talent with his sharp memory skills and interest in technology. Pichai first generated interest in technology while listening to his father’s stories from work and the solutions they found for each problem. In 1993, he graduated from IIT Kharagpur in metallurgy and received a silver medal.
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Following that, he was awarded a scholarship to study engineering and material science at Stanford University. His father spent his annual salary buying a flight ticket for Pichai to move to California. According to Britannica, after his Master’s in 1995, he continued working in the United States and simultaneously got a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. His graduation led him to work in the consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. before joining the Google team in 2004 as Head of Project Management.
Rising Through The Ranks
During his early years at Google, Sundar Pichai developed the Google Bar, enabling users to easily access the search engine through various web browsers. His work led him to also work on Google’s web browser Chrome which was launched in 2008. Due to his deep impact on developing the company, Pichai was named the Vice President for Product Development. In 2011, it was speculated that Twitter was in talks to hire Pichai. However, he was loyal to team Google, as noted by Business Insider. He was promoted to Senior Vice President and later took over as Chief of the Android OS, which billions of customers use today.
Microsoft tried to persuade Sundar Pichai to work for the company in 2014. However, Google offered an annual salary of $50 million for him to keep collaborating with the company. Along with leading a team to launch and develop Google Drive, his strong negotiation skills also helped Google acquire smart home technology company Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. After Google was reorganized as a subsidiary of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai was announced as the CEO of Google in 2014. The news did not surprise people at Google as Pichai was a well-liked, humble, and diligent team member.
Bringing Innovation To Google
A post shared by Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai)
His work with creating and innovating Maps, Gmail, and Drive helped the company reach new heights, and Alphabet has a valuation of $863.2 billion today. In 2019, Larry Page stepped down as the CEO of Alphabet and handed over the complete reins of his co-owned business to Sundar Pichai. The parent company has seven major subsidiaries, including YouTube, Nest, Fitbit, Waze, and DoubleClick. As mentioned by Yahoo Finance, along with a base salary of $2 million, Pichai has received stock grants and bonuses and earned a total of $1 billion between 2015 and 2020.
Besides working for Google, Sundar Pichai has also ventured into philanthropic gestures and donated to organizations in India and the United States. He made a $1 million donation to GiveDirectly by matching Google’s donation and gave $18 million to various COVID-19 relief funds in India during the early wave of the pandemic. With a focus on innovation and data research, Pichai has recently announced his plans to open a data research facility in Japan’s Inzai City with a $730 million investment, as stated by Bloomberg. The facility will be functional from 2024.
From his humble beginnings in a small home in Southern India to becoming the CEO of one of the biggest parent companies in the world, Sundar Pichai has had an exciting life story. His strive for transformation has led to many successful projects and products under Google that have revolutionized the internet.
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Sources: Britannica, Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg
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