Sundar Pichai was appointed the CEO of the company in November 2015. About four years later, the Google Chief Executive has been chosen to take up a bigger role of CEO of the parent company Alphabet Inc. Pichai will replace Larry Page, who co-founded the company with Sergey Brin 21 years ago. The co-founders made the announcement in a blogpost, and Pichai later tweeted the development. All three – Page, Brin, and Pichai – have a common vision of developing artificial intelligence software to make web searching and other tasks faster.
‘With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure. We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President. Going forward, Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet. He will be the executive responsible and accountable for leading Google, and managing Alphabet’s investment in our portfolio of Other Bets,’ Page and Brin wrote.
‘We are deeply committed to Google and Alphabet for the long term and will remain actively involved as Board members, shareholders, and co-founders. In addition, we plan to continue talking with Sundar regularly, especially on topics we’re passionate about! Sundar brings humility and a deep passion for technology to our users, partners, and our employees every day. He’s worked closely with us for 15 years, through the formation of Alphabet, as CEO of Google, and a member of the Alphabet Board of Directors. He shares our confidence in the value of the Alphabet structure, and the ability it provides us to tackle big challenges through technology,’ the duo added.
I’m excited about Alphabet’s long term focus on tackling big challenges through technology. Thanks to Larry & Sergey, we have a timeless mission, enduring values and a culture of collaboration & exploration - a strong foundation we’ll continue to build on https://t.co/tSVsaj4FsR
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) 4 December 2019
In 2015, Google reorganised into the Alphabet holding company, the co-founders appointed Pichai the CEO of Google. For those who don’t know, Page and Brin started their web search engine in 1998. It was a research project at Stanford University, which later turned into one of the most profitable businesses. Page served as the first CEO before bringing Eric Schmidt to lead the company from 2001 to 2011. Page returned as CEO after that and after working on several projects like high-speed fibre internet service, and Google+ social networking platform, and Brin oversaw self-driving cars and Google Glass wearable. Pichai will now be the company’s face, as he takes up the hot seat.
Here are some facts about Sundar Pichai:
- Pichai was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu on June 10, 1972. He studied at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, and is an alumnus of Wharton business school and Stanford University.
- Before joining Google, Pichai worked at consultant McKinsey & Co. Reuters says that he was first interviewed at Google on April 1, 2004 – the same day that saw the launch of Gmail.
- Google Chrome, which is the largest web search engine today, is the brainchild of Pichai. The executive also took over Android business from Andy Rubin. Reportedly, a year after Pichai took over Android, Google shipped 1 billion devices.
- Before being appointed the CEO of Google in November 2015, Pichai was seen as the potential successor to Microsoft Corp CEO Steve Ballmer. The post went to another Indian-origin executive Satya Nadella in February 2014.
- Page and Brin say that there is no one that they have ‘relied on more since Alphabet was founded, and there is no better person than Pichai to lead Google and Alphabet into the future.’