Inside the career rise of Sundar Pichai, the Google CEO being paid hundreds of millions to pave the way towards an 'AI-first' company

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, is one of Tech's highest-paid execs.

Associated Press

• Sundar Pichai, Alphabet's CEO, is one of the world's highest-paid executives, earning $226 million in 2022.
• Pichai has been at Google since 2004 and rose through the ranks, becoming its CEO in 2015 and taking the helm of Alphabet in 2019.
• As CEO, Pichai has reorganized Google's workforce, issued mass layoffs, and emphasized AI.

Sundar Pichai has had a meteoric rise since joining Google as a 31-year-old product manager in 2004.

In the 11 years that followed his first steps on the Googleplex, Pichai was promoted four times, eventually becoming the CEO of Google in 2015. 

In that role, he was responsible for the company's core businesses and cash cow — and did a good enough job that, in December 2019, he was promoted one more time, replacing Google cofounder Larry Page as the CEO Alphabet.

Since, he has had to lead the trillion-dollar company through the pandemic, layoffs, and the AI renaissance currently taking Silicon Valley by storm.

So who is Pichai and how did he scale the ranks to get one of the most important jobs at one of the most important companies in the world? Here's his story.

Jillian D'Onfro, Avery Hartmans, and Mary Meisenzahl contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Pichai, whose full name is actually Pichai Sundararajan, grew up in Chennai, India.

Students in Chennai, where Pichai grew up.

Babu Babu/Reuters

Pichai's father was as an electrical engineer and his mother worked as a stenographer before having him and his younger brother. The family wasn't wealthy, and the boys slept together in the living room of their two-room apartment, Bloomberg reported.

Early on, Pichai had a talent for remembering numbers, which his family realized when he could recall every phone number he had ever dialed on their rotary phone. He will still sometimes show off his memorization skills at meetings, Bloomberg reports. 

After becoming interested in computers — the first software program he wrote was a chess game — Pichai studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. His success there won him a scholarship to Stanford University.

Pichai got his master's degree at Stanford University.

Ben Margot/AP

Pichai has said that moving to California was a huge leap.

"I always loved technology growing up," Pichai said in a 2014 interview at Delhi University. "I used to read about what was happening in Silicon Valley, and I wanted to be a party of it."

 

 

When Pichai got to America in 1993, he couldn't believe how expensive everything was.

Pichai with his wife Anjali.

Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

He "was in an absolute state of shock" about the price of a backpack — $60 — he told Bloomberg. 

He also missed his girlfriend, Anjali. The two eventually got married, and now have a son, Kiran; daughter, Kavya; and a dog named Jeffree.

 

Pichai earned a master's degree from Stanford, and later attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School for his MBA.

Pichai got his MBA at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

Charles Mostoller/Reuters

Before Google, he had stints at semiconductor manufacturer Applied Materials and consulting firm McKinsey.

Pichai interviewed at the Googleplex on April Fools' Day in 2004 — the same day the company launched Gmail.

Pichai interviewed at the Googleplex in 2004.

Justin Sullivan/Getty

Pichai told Bloomberg that he initially thought that the free email service was one of Google's famous pranks.

 

Pichai got his start working as a VP of product management, focused on Google's Toolbar.

The Toolbar, which Pichai worked on when he started in 2004.

The Way Back Machine

The Toolbar was a web-search feature on Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Another early achievement for Pichai: he convinced cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin that Google should build its own browser.

Google Chrome was created after Pichai pushed the company's cofounders on a Google web browser.

Stephen Lam/Reuters

In 2006, Microsoft created a "doomsday" scenario for Google by making Bing the new default search engine on Internet Explorer. To mitigate the effect of this change, Pichai helped convince Google execs to create its own web browser called Google Chrome.

Chrome is now world's most popular browser, according to Similarweb data.

As a leader, Pichai was known to be well-liked and focused on results, which resulted in more responsibility.

Pichai is known for bringing a "substance over overt style" attitude to Google.

Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters

His "substance over overt style" approach was, in part, led to his taking over of the Android division in 2013.

He spearheaded Android One, Google's push to "make high-quality smartphones accessible to as many people as possible," and was also instrumental in ensuring Android was better integrated with Google, proper. 

Pichai was also behind Chrome OS, the operating system that powers Google's inexpensive Chromebook laptops, and was reportedly instrumental in helping put together Google's $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest in 2014. 

His success garnered attention, and he was reportedly approached for a leadership role at Twitter.

Pichai's ascent at Google reportedly led Twitter to attempt to poach him for a leadership role.

Adnan Abidi/Reuters

He was rewarded for his allegiance, reportedly getting $50 million and a promotion when he turned down the gig.

As he rose through the ranks, he was considered the right-hand man of Google cofounder and former CEO Larry Page.

Pichai and Page worked closely together at Google.

Getty

"He's like the Aaron to Larry's Moses," a source told Insider in 2014, referring to the biblical prophet's brother.

That knack and his success led to Pichai's next important promotion in late 2014, when Page put him in charge of the company's core products.

Pichai oversaw products like Google+, Maps, and Search, to name a few.

Getty / Steve Jennings

After proving himself with Chrome and Android, Pichai added Google+, Maps, Search, commerce and ads, and infrastructure to his portfolio. The move cemented his move as Page's second-in-command.

"Sundar has a tremendous ability to see what's ahead and mobilize teams around the super important stuff," Page wrote in a memo announcing Pichai's promotion. "We very much see eye-to-eye when it comes to product, which makes him the perfect fit for this role."

Less than a year later, he was named CEO of Google.

Pichai, who became CEO of Google in 2015, is well-liked among the company's employees.

AP

When Alphabet was established as Google's parent company in 2015, Pichai was made the top-man at Google, which encompassed search, YouTube, and Android.

As his power amassed, he remained well-liked.

"He is literally worshipped inside Google. Engineers love him. Product Managers love him. Business people love him," one Googler wrote on Quora.

 

In July 2017, Pichai was named to Alphabet's board of directors.

Pichai joined Google parent company's board of directors/

Stephen Lam/Reuters

"Sundar has been doing a great job as Google's CEO, driving strong growth, partnerships, and tremendous product innovation. I really enjoy working with him and I'm excited that he is joining the Alphabet board," Page said at the time.

Two years later came his final promotion, when Alphabet's CEO, Page, and president, Brin, announced that were stepping down, and Pichai would become Alphabet CEO.

Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin, right, stepped back from Google in 2019.

James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

Page and Brin cofounded Google in 1998. They announced the change in a letter saying that Alphabet and Google "no longer need two CEOs and a President."

 

He's well-compensated for his work.

The Alphabet CEO earns nine-figures annually.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Google said in an April regulatory filing that Pichai earned a total of $226 million in 2022, mostly in stock awards, making him one of America's best-paid CEOs.

 

But the top job also comes with increased public scrutiny.

Pichai has testified in front of the US government multiple times over.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

In 2018, the House Judiciary Committee grilled the CEO about Google's data privacy practices and plans with China.

Two years later, he testified in front of Congress again over anti-trust concerns.

Google dealt with internal turmoil when it fired one of its top AI ethicists.

AI researcher Timnit Gebru (left) was fired from Google.

Kimberly White/Getty Images/Denis Balibouse/Reuters

In December of 2020, Google fired Timnit Gebru. Gebru's exit came weeks after she was asked to retract a paper on the dangers of large language models and spoke out against the company's treatment of minority employees. 

Google employees were "seriously pissed" over how the firing was handled, one told Insider at the time, and Gebru said that Pichai and other managers helped create "hostile work environments."

Pichai eventually apologized for how the company handled Gebru's exit.

"I want to say how sorry I am for that, and I accept the responsibility of working to restore your trust," he wrote.

 

In 2020, Pichai was at the forefront of Google's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pichai led Google's COVID-19 efforts in 2020.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Under his leadership, Google launched initiatives to help search users find accurate, useful information about the coronavirus. 

Late last year, Pichai had to oversee an era of cost-cutting at the company, which resulted in layoffs in January.

In January, Google laid off 12,000 employees in an effort to cut costs.

Justin Sullivan /Getty Images

Like many large tech companies, Alphabet hired rapidly from 2020 to 2022. Alphabet hired nearly 37,000 new workers in the 12 months leading up to October 2022.

The overhiring led to cost-cutting: In the fall of 2022, the company said it would tighten its belt perks and travel budgets.

The cuts culminated in layoffs in January, when Google laid off 12,000 employees, or 6% of its global workforce. Pichai said he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."

Two months later, more than 1,400 Google employees wrote an open letter to Pichai about the handling of the layoffs. 

"Don't be evil," it read.

Googlers also criticized Pichai's big payday in the face of the layoffs, accusing him of "destroying morale and culture" at Google.

Pichai has also led Google in the AI arms race that's overtaken Silicon Valley.

In 2016, Pichai said that Google will one day become an "AI-first" company.

Getty Images

Google issued a "code red" in December 2022 after the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT sparked concerns over the future of its search engine. Pichai redirected resources to focus on building Google's AI products.

It wasn't the first time Pichai expressed interest in AI. In 2016, Pichai announced that Google would be an "AI-first" company. Two years later, he said the technology is "one of the most important things that humanity is working on" and "more profound" than "electricity or fire."

One result of Google's AI effort is the chatbot Bard.

A demonstration of Bard, Google's AI chatbot.

Google

In February 2023, Google demoed its AI chatbot Bard for the first time. The demo, which included the bot making a factual error, was called "rushed, botched, myopic" by one employee.

Google made Bard available to the public in March.

 

Now, Pichai is shifting Google's focus to integrating AI into its other products.

CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at the 2023 Google I/O conference.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

At the 2023 Google I/O conference, the CEO announced that Google is adding AI features across Google Workspace, including to Search, Gmail, Docs, and other existing products.

 

 

When Pichai isn't spending his team leading Google, the CEO meets with influential world leaders.

Pichai met with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2022 CEO Summit of the Americas.

Jose Luis Magana/AP; Pavel Golovkin/AP

In early June of 2022, Pichai attended the CEO Summit of the Americas — hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce and the US Department of State — where business leaders from private sectors across countries in North, South, and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, come together in Los Angeles to discuss how they can work together to stimulate economic growth in their countries. 

During the three-day summit, Pichai met with Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, to discuss Google's investments in Canada and how the company can work with the government to spur innovation in the country.

The Alphabet CEO also announced his $1.2 billion commitment to Latin America. 

 

While Pichai is quite private, he is known to start his day with a cup of tea and an omelette — plus a copy of The Wall Street Journal.

Pichai said he reads a physical copy of The Wall Street Journal everyday.

Mark Lennihan/AP

"I read the physical paper every single morning," he told Recode in 2016, adding that he reads The New York Times online.

Although he's private, Pichai has spoken out about certain causes since he became a public figure.

Pichai has pushed back against former president Donald Trump's takes on Muslim immigrants in the US.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

In 2015, he responded to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's suggestion that Muslims be banned from immigrating to the US.

"Let's not let fear defeat our values. We must support Muslim and other minority communities in the US and around the world," he wrote on Medium.

In his home country, Pichai is seen as something of a hero.

Harsha Bhogle (right) interviewing Pichai at Delhi University in 2018.

Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

"You are what they would like to be, an Indian who studied here, went overseas, and did what everyone would dream of doing," interviewer Harsha Bhogle said in a conversation with Pichai for students at Delhi University.

In 2020, Pichai announced that Google will invest $10 billion into India's tech sector over the next five to seven years to make the internet "affordable and useful" to everyone living in the country.

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