Pichai Sundararajan’s father, an Electrical Engineer at the British Multinational GEC, wanted to give good education as Pichai displayed an interest in technology and an extraordinary memory at an early age, especially for telephone numbers. After earning a degree and a silver medal at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Stanford University (M.S. in engineering). He remained in the U.S thereafter, working briefly for Applied Materials (a supplier of semiconductor materials) and then earning an M.B.A. (2002) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was named a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
He tried to talk a friend out of working at Google before joining the company himself.
He initially worked on the Google Toolbar as a part of a small team, which enabled those using the Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox Web browsers to easily access the Google Search Engine. Over the next few years, Google’s own browser, Chrome, was released to the public in 2008. Though he faced objections from the CEO Eric that time, he preserved and convinced Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then he was directly involved in the development of Google Chrome. He is liked by his colleagues and is actually very grounded, helpful and friendly. Google Chrome and Chrome OS became highly successful. Eventually he took over the management of other Google products like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Gears, Google Pack.
In 2011 Pichai reportedly was aggressively pursued for employment by microblogging service Twitter, and in 2014 he was touted as a possible CEO for Microsoft, a position that was eventually given to Satya Nadella but in both instances he was granted large financial packages to remain with Google. He also was known to have helped negotiate Google’s $3.2 billion deal to acquire Nest Labs in 2014.
In 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.
The Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is one of the highest-paid executives all over the world. His annual compensation is around $281 million (approx. Rs. 2,191 crore). And, his per-day earnings is around $770k (approx. Rs. 5.8 crore).
Quotes
He have been a part of many motivational quotes. His quotes are inspirational for both life and profession. Some of his quotes are listed here.
“As a leader, It is important to not just see your own success, but focus on the success of others.”
“Wear your failure as a badge of honor!”
“A person who is happy is not because everything is right in his life, He is happy because his attitude towards everything in his life is right.”
Awards and Achievements
His major achievements include the launch of Google Chrome as he is the mastermind behind one of the best browsers in the world. He also has a major role in the development of the same. The very next year, he was made the in-charge of Android and he made Android quite successful. Back in 2019, Sundar Pichai received the prestigious Global Leadership Awards 2019 by USIBC (US-India Business Council) based in Washington.
The Ministry of Home Affairs announced the Padma Awards 2022 on the eve of India’s 73rd Republic Day. The Ministry stated that Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai will be conferred with Padma Bhushan for their distinguished service of high order under the trade and industry category.
While Nadella stated that it was an honor to receive the award, Pichai stated that he was humbled by it. “It’s an honor to receive a Padma Bhushan Award and to be recognized with so many extraordinary people. I’m thankful to the President, Prime Minister, and people of India, and look forward to continuing to work with people across India to help them use technology to achieve more,” Nadella said in his tweet.
Pichai had issued a statement saying, “I am deeply grateful to the Padma Awards Committee, the President and Prime Minister, as well as the people of India for this honor. It’s made all the more meaningful to be among this esteemed group of individuals who have each had a profound impact on their fields and communities, and I am humbled to receive this award alongside them.”
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