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How did Sundar Pichai feel when he completed 20 years at Google?

What are the lesser-known facts about Sundar Pichai?
How did Sundar Pichai meet his lifeline- Anjali Pichai?

Who’s the brain behind Google’s magic? An obvious answer- Sundar Pichai.

The man who has been rocking Google’s world for 20 years now… The man who just like many of us, studied from CBSE board… And the man who made it to IIT & made the entire nation proud…

From his first day at Google in 2004 to today, Sundar has seen it all. But has anything stayed the same?

Let’s read the success story of Sundar Pichai and understand how he became the talk of the town.

(We have also shared below what Sundar himself said about completing 20 years at Google. Read Through the Story)

Qualifications of Sundar Pichai

Pichai was born in Madurai, a town located in the South of Tamil Nadu state in India. He is a metallurgical engineering graduate from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Kharagpur. Sundar Pichai came from a middle-class background but with sheer effort, he made his place at Stanford University in the US.

He pursued his M.S. in materials science and engineering. Furthermore, he completed his MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he earned recognition as a Siebel and Palmer Scholar.

Career

At the beginning of his career, Pichai was a materials engineer. Later, in 2004 he joined Google. After being a part of Google he led Google Suite’s client software products management and innovation efforts, including Google Chrome and Chrome OS. Pichai was a huge part of Google Drive as well.

Pichai was always a multi-tasker. He began to oversee other applications development such as Gmail and Google Maps. He eagerly sought to learn about new emerging technology and trends. In 2010 an open-sourcing of codec VP8- a new video by Google was announced by Pichai and the new video format named WebM was introduced. In 2012, the Chromebook was released. Android was added to the Google products list, managed by Pichai in 2013. He was also the Director of Jive software in 2013 from April 2011 to July 30.

Finally arrived the big day, which wasn’t a surprise after his extensive contribution to Google. Google announced Pichai as the CEO of Google on August 10, 2015. Larry Page first appointed him as the product chief CEO. The new holding company of Google named Alphabet Inc. was formed in 2015 on October 24. On the completion of this company, Pichai was given a new role as the CEO of this holding company.

Have you heard about these reports too?

Pichai was considered a contender for the CEO of Microsoft in 2014. Nonetheless, the position was later given to Satya Nadella while Sundar continued with Google. Twitter- a microblogging service, also pursued Pichai for employment in 2011.

As per speculations, Pichai was all set to leave Google to join Twitter in 2011 but Google wasn’t ready to let him go. Therefore, they took a major step and offered Sundar a humongous $50 million in stocks and retained him.

Problems faced by Pichai

We have heard all about the success of Sundar Pichai but only a few know about the struggles he had to face in between his career.

A lot of bad publicity revolved around Pichai in the case of employee firing. In August 2017, an employee wrote a 10-page manifesto criticising the company for its diversity policies. He argued that “distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and… these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership”.

This opened a gateway for huge debates and issues around Google, that are still under diverse public opinions. In a memo, Pichai said, “to suggest a group of our colleagues has traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK”.

Did you know Pichai was called by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee?

On December 11, 2018, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee called Pichai to explain a wide range of issues revolving around Google related to alleged, potential political bias on Google’s platforms. The company’s alleged plans for a “censored search app” in China, and its privacy practices.

He had to clear himself of all the accusations encircling the company’s reputation. Subsequently, the response stated Google employees have no role in influencing the search results of its users. Along with this, the users of Google are given a voluntary choice to opt out of data collection. He stated “There are no current plans for a censored search engine” in China. However, this issue is still in debate. Many people were left in shock; by the massive amount of data handed Directly to Google by their privacy policy “Accept” button.

Pichai’s appearance was described by Wired’s Issie Lapowsky (writer) before the committee as “one major missed opportunity”. She also stated that the members “staked out opposite sides of a partisan battle,” which led to the presentation of another side to the public which in her words is “a foreboding reminder of Congress’s continued technological ignorance.” It turned out to be a big question mark on the reputation of the company raising many trust issues in public.

Recent Happenings

Padma Bhushan Award

Sundar Pichai was bestowed with the country’s third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan Award in San Francisco by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the Ambassador of India to the United States. While receiving the award, the CEO said, “India is a part of me and I carry it with me wherever I go.”

He also said, “I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured in this way by the country that shaped me.”

20 Years in Google

Sundar Pichai completed 20 years at Google on April 26, 2024. In an Instagram post, he wrote, “April 26, 2004, was my first day at Google. A lot has changed since then – technology, the number of people who use our products. my hair. What hasn’t changed – is the thrill I get from working at this amazing company. 20 years in, I’m still feeling lucky.”

How did Sundar Pichai meet his lifeline Anjali?

Sundar Pichai married his classmate Anjali Pichai. He met her at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Even after the long distance between them, their love helped them stay connected.

Anjali Pichai is a chemical engineer from Kota, Rajasthan. The couple has two children – daughter Kavya Pichai and son Kiran Pichai. Pichai’s interests lie in football and cricket.

Some lesser-known facts about Sundar Pichai

Google Chrome was Sundar Pichai’s brainchild.
Pichai is the third CEO of Google.
He is the first non-white CEO of Google.
Before becoming Google’s CEO, he was a contender for the position of Microsoft’s CEO.
Pichai is a die-hard fan of football team FC Barcelona and never misses a single match.
Sundar was announced to receive a loaded package of $240 million in performance-based stock awards on 22 December 2019 for the next three years.
This record-breaking amount marks the highest performance awards package ever offered to any executive at Google. This is the second-highest package ever in the world of tech. The first place still stays with Apple’s Tim Cook.

Where does Sundar Pichai live?

Sundar lives in a modest house and believes in a simple way of living. It might come as a shock to many but he returns to a simple home in Los Altos Hills, California. He lives with his wife and two kids. In an interview, he said he never tests any new Google prototypes at his home.

Famous Quotes By Sundar Pichai

Be Open, Be Impatient and Be Hopeful.
The right moral compass is trying hard to think what customers want.

Sundar Pichai is the CEO of the following companies:

ALPHABET INC.

The founders of Google created Alphabet Inc., a multinational conglomerate company, in 2015. They formed it after Google wished to focus on things related to its mission. It wanted to make its activities “cleaner and more accountable.”

After Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Alphabet Inc, many businesses previously owned by Google became its subsidiaries. Google also became a subsidiary of Alphabet. As the parent company, Alphabet provided a logical framework for Google to expand into domains beyond Internet search and advertising. Its founders knew the great potential that technology has. They wanted to evolve Google from a one-trick pony to a big conglomerate.

Alphabet competes with different companies that provide online platforms for connecting people with information, digital content, and more. In addition, it makes revenue through Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome Browser, YouTube, and Google Search Engine. It also sells brand advertising, which aims to increase users’ awareness of brands and products.

Furthermore, Alphabet sometimes faces antitrust investigations by different agencies of the government. It is already facing antitrust investigations by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and state attorneys general.

In the contemporary scenario, Alphabet is a tech giant with nearly $1 trillion worth. It is the 4th most valuable company by the market in the entire globe.

GOOGLE

Since its establishment, Google has been everywhere. Founded in 1998, this American search engine company is the gift of Sergey Brin and Larry Page to the entire nation. Google lives in the heart of most internet users. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, it offers more than 50 Internet services and products, ranging from mobile phones and computers to email and online document creation.

Since its foundation, Google has spent large sums of money to secure Internet marketing advantages. In 2003, it spent $102 million to acquire Applied Semantics and $102 million in 2006 for web advertisement business, dMarc Broadcasting.

Some facts about Google: Surprising to note, the first workspace of Google was Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, California. To another surprise, Wojcicki is now the CEO of YouTube.

Google today supports more than 100 languages. It can translate 37 languages via pictures, 32 via voice, and 27 via real-time video. Voice and video should be in “conversation” and “augmented reality mode” respectively.

Google made another prolific achievement by entering into the home assistant war with its Artificial intelligence-powered Google Home device. It launched a phone called the Pixel, the first-ever phone made by the company. 2018 was the year when Google completed its 20 years, and Google recorded $100 billion in annual sales in its entire history.

According to Larry and Sergey, the name Google represents the immense amount of information that a search engine has to sift through. Undoubtedly, Google has been successful in serving its users with extensive data and information wherever and whenever possible. Therefore, Google today has become so popular.