Now we are going to talk about the Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Google surprised the world by announcing the appointment of a new CEO on 10th August 2015. It became a proud moment for the Indian community to see an Indian-born make it to the list of the CEOs in the Tech. Industry. Sundar Pichai, a name now well-known across the globe has had his share of struggle before making it to the top. Pichai Sundararajan, more commonly known to us as Sundar Pichai was born in Madurai, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, on July 12, 1972. He belongs to a lower middle-class family and had never experienced the luxury of watching television or traveling by car in his childhood. His father Raghunath Pichai worked as an Electrical Engineer in General Electric in Chennai and therefore, the family lived in the city, at Ashok Nagar. His father was the manager of a factory that made components for electrical objects. The stories of the work challenges faced by his father always inspired Pichai. His mother, Lakshmi, was a Stenographer until she gave birth to her kids. Sundar has a younger brother as well.
| Biography | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Name/Full Name | Pichai Sundararajan | ||
| Nick Name | Sundar Pichai | ||
| Profession | CEO of Google | ||
| Physical Stats & More | |||
| Height (approx.) | in centimeters- 180 cm in meters- 1.80 M in feet inches- 5’ 11” |
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| Weight (approx.) | in kilograms- 66 kg in pounds- 146 lbs |
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| Eye Colour | Dark Brown | ||
| Hair Colour | Black | ||
| Personal Life | |||
| Date of Birth | July 12, 1972 | ||
| Age (as in 2017) | 45 Years | ||
| Birth Place | Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India | ||
| Zodiac sign/Sun sign | Cancer | ||
| Nationality | Indian | ||
| Hometown | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | ||
| School | Jawahar Vidyalaya, Ashok Nagar, Chennai Vana Vani school located in IIT Chennai, Tamil Nadus |
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| College | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (B.Tech.), Stanford University (M.S), University of Pennsylvania (MBA) | ||
| Educational Qualification | Btech(Computer Science), M.S and MBA | ||
| Citizenship | American | ||
| Family | Father- Regunatha Pichai (Worked as a Electrical Engineer at General Electric) Mother- Lakshmi Pichai (Worked as a Stenographer) Brother- Not Known
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| Religion | Lutheranism | ||
| Hobbies | Travelling, Watching Soccer, Cooking and Baking | ||
| Favourite Things | |||
| Favourite Food | Mettwurst (minced pork sausage) with green cabbage | ||
| Boys, Affairs and More | |||
| Marital Status | Married | ||
| Affairs/Boyfriends | Anjali Pichai(Chemical Engineer) | ||
| Wife/Spouse | Anjali Pichai | ||
| Children | Daughter- Kavya Pichai Son- Kiran Pichai |
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Some Amazing Facts About Sundar Pichai
- He saw his first computer only when he came to IIT Kharagpur for engineering study.
- Sundar Pichai is a huge cricket fan and was the captain of his school cricket team.
- His family did not possess a phone until he was in 12 std.
- He once tried to talk a friend out of working at Google before joining the company himself.
- Sundar Pichai joined Google even before the company went public.
- He is very good at remembering numbers and could remember every telephone number he dialed when he was young.
- He interacts with students at IIT-Kharagpur over Skype at regular intervals.
- He was also one of the top contenders for the post of CEO at Microsoft, which ultimately went to Satya Nadella.
- The Google CEO is not at all “nerdy” as his appearance might suggest! He is actually very grounded, helpful and friendly.
- He has been the master of ceremonies at Google I/O for the past few years.
- It is rumoured that Twitter tried to poach Sundar Pichai, a few year back, while he was working at Google, but Google paid him an exorbitantly higher pay to retain him
- He initially planned to pursue a Ph.D. from Stanford and embark on an academic career. However, he dropped out and joined Applied Materials—a Silicon Valley semiconductor maker—as an engineer and product manager. He did not work there for long.
- He went on to complete his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (2002), where he was named a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
- Following the completion of his MBA he was appointed as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
- Initially he worked on Google’s search toolbar as a part of a small team. The toolbar gave users of Internet Explorer and Firefox easy access to Google search.
- Google products like Google Gears and Google Pack. The success of Google’s toolbar gave Pichai the idea that Google should develop its own browser. He discussed his idea with his seniors and faced an objection from then-CEO Eric Schmidt, who thought that developing a browser would be a too expensive affair.
- Pichai persevered and convinced the co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to launch Google’s own browser. Pichai played a pivotal role in the ultimate launch of the browser, Google Chrome, in 2008. Chrome proved to be a great success as it allowed the users to directly access Google’s search engine.
- Pichai became an internationally known figure following the phenomenal success of the Chrome which eventually became the No. 1 browser in the world, surpassing competitors such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. The Chrome also paved the way for a series of other important products like Chrome OS, Chromebooks, and Chromecast.
- In 2008, Pichai was promoted to Vice President of product development. In this position he started appearing more often at Google presentations and continued rising up the ranks in Google. By 2012, he had become the Senior Vice President of Chrome and apps.
- In 2013, Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, left to work on a different project. Larry Page then made Pichai in-charge of Android as well. His influence continued to increase and he was made the Product Chief in October 2014.
- In 2015, Google formed a company, Alphabet Inc., to serve as a holding company and conglomerate to own the subsidiaries that were previously owned by Google, including a new “slimmed down” version of Google itself. On 10 August 2015, Sundar Pichai was named the new CEO of Google.
- In February 2016, he was awarded 273,328 shares of Google's holding company Alphabet, which led to a rise in his net worth. These shares were worth $199 million, and this took his holdings up to $650 million.
