Sundar Pichai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sundar Pichai

• Sundar Pichai is the CEO of “Alphabet” and its subsidiary “Google LLC.” He is the highest-paid executive of the search-giant- “Google.”

• Pichai used to excel at cricket when he was in school. His leadership skills were evident even then; as he was selected as the captain of his high school cricket team.

  

• He studied at IIT Kharagpur, where he graduated in 1993.

  

• Pichai not only secured a degree in Metallurgy from one of the most prestigious institutes in India but also managed to earn a scholarship to Stanford University, where he studied materials science and semiconductor physics.

• As Pichai’s father wasn’t financially well-off, it was difficult for his father to send him abroad for higher studies. However, his father somehow managed to spend $1000 from the family savings to cover Pichai’s travel and additional expenses.

• When he studying at the “Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania,” he was named as the “Siebel Scholar” and “Palmer Scholar,” respectively; as he was one of the most talented students.

• Only a few people know that Pichai is not an early “Googler.” Before joining Google in 2004, he used to work as a management consultant with “McKinsey & Company,” which specializes in metallurgy.

• On 1 April 2004, Pichai joined Google. Interestingly, it was the very day that Gmail was launched.

• Pichai’s wife, Anjali Pichai, was his classmate at IIT Kharagpur. The duo had such a strong bonding that even distance and years could not part the future companions.

  

• Interestingly, Satya Nadella and Pichai were being considered for the post of Microsoft’s CEO. However, the former was chosen as the CEO of Microsoft and Pichai continued at Google.

• Reportedly, in 2011, Pichai had made up his mind to leave Google and join Twitter’s core team. However, Google did not want Pichai to quit, hence they offered Pichai a humongous $50 million in stocks and retained him.

• Although he is believed to be one of the most politically correct and neutral executives, he was at constant loggerheads with the former head of Android, Andy Rubin. Eventually, Rubin left the Android team to work on a robotics project before leaving Google.

• It is believed that it was Pichai who proposed the idea of launching a Google web browser to the then CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt. Notably, Google Chrome is now the most popular web browser in the world.

• Pichai is the third and the first non-white CEO of Google after Larry Page and Eric Schmidt.

• Pichai has been credited with making the Android team more open. Before taking charge of Android from Andy Rubin, the Android unit was perceived as a rogue unit within Google.

• The November 2015 floods in Chennai had turned catastrophic for Pichai’s grandmother who was stuck in a building for 4 days without water, food and cellular connectivity. As the water level rose, his grandmother had to be moved to the second floor of the building.

• Pichai is an avid fan of the football club “FC Barcelona,” and he watches every single match of the club.

• On December 3, 2019, Sundar Pichai replaced Larry Page as CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. Larry Page decided to step down as the CEO and Pichai was appointed as the CEO of both Google and Alphabet.

• On 22 December 2019, it was announced that Sundar Pichai would receive a hefty package of $240 million in performance-based stock awards over the next three years. It was the highest performance awards package offered to any executive of Google ever, and the second-highest ever in the world of tech, behind Apple’s Tim Cook.

• On 8 June 2020, in an address to students during a virtual graduation ceremony, Poichais revealed that it took a year’s salary of his father to buy a plane ticket to the United States when Pichai left India for Stanford. Pichai said,
  

  My father spent the equivalent of a year’s salary on my plane ticket to the U.S.  so I could attend Stanford. It was my first time ever on a plane.” ^[3]Ahmedabad Mirror

• In May 2023, he sold his family home located in Chennai’s Ashok Nagar, where he grew up, to Tamil actor and producer C. Manikandan. Reportedly, Mr. Pichai’s father broke down while handing over the documents of the house to Manikandan. According to Sundar Pichai’s neighbour, he remained in this home until the age of 20. ^[4]NDTV