India-born
Sundar Pichai will be the new CEO of Google under a major
restructuring at the technology giant, as co-founder Larry Page
lauded the IIT alumnus' "progress and dedication" and said
it is "time" for him to take over the company's reins. In a
surprise and significant re-organisation, Page announced the
formation of a new parent company Alphabet Inc which will replace
Google as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will
automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet,
with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Alphabet, which will have Page as CEO and co-founder
Sergey Brin as President. Pichai, 43, who was previously in-charge of
product and engineering for Google’s Internet businesses, will be
the CEO of the "slightly slimmed down" Google. He received
a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and
holds an M.S. in Engineering and Materials Science from Stanford
University and an MBA from the Wharton School. He had joined Google
in 2004 as its vice president of product management, where he led the
team working on Google's Chrome browser and operating system. In a
blog post yesterday, Page lauded Pichai for his work at the company
and said he feels "very fortunate" to have someone as
"talented" as Pichai to "run the slightly slimmed down
Google and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our
aspirations". "This new structure will allow us to keep
tremendous focus on the extraordinary opportunities we have inside of
Google. A key part of this is Sundar Pichai," Page said. Waxing
eloquent about Pichai, Page said, "Sundar has been saying the
things I would have said (and sometimes better!) for quite some time
now, and I've been tremendously enjoying our work together." "He
has really stepped up since October of last year, when he took on
product and engineering responsibility for our Internet businesses.
Sergey and I have been super excited about his progress and
dedication to the company. And it is clear to us and our board that
it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google," Page said. Pichai
joins a gradually growing list of Indian-origin technology and
business executives working their way up to head multi-billion dollar
worth American giants. In February last year, Satya Nadella was named
Microsoft CEO, becoming the tech giant's only third chief executive
after Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates in its 40-year history. PepsiCo's
CEO is also India-born Indra Nooyi and MasterCard is headed by Ajay
Banga. Last year, New Delhi-born Rajeev Suri was made CEO of phone
company Nokia. Anshu Jain was till recently the co-CEO of Deutsche
Bank.
JOINS
SELECT BAND
As
the new CEO of a re-organised Google, India-born Sundar Pichai has
joined an elite league of over a dozen Indian origin persons holding
top posts at global corporations with collective turnover of about
USD 400 billion. In a significant restructuring at Google, Pichai has
been named the new CEO of the technology giant after the company
co-founder Larry Page announced the formation of a new umbrella firm
Alphabet, of which Google will be a part. Page himself will be
Alphabet CEO.
Pichai, 43, has joined the league of Indra Nooyi, Lakshmi Mittal, Ajay Banga, among many other Indian-origin persons at the helm at large conglomerates headquartered abroad.
Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, was the first to congratulate Pichai. Nadella tweeted on Pichai's elevation at the company, writing in the micro-blogging site "Congrats @sundarpichai well deserved."
There are many other Indians heading the businesses at relatively smaller companies abroad, specially in IT sector, but at least 12 large companies have got India-born chief executives.
These include Microsoft (Satya Nadella), PepsiCo (Indra Nooyi), ArcelorMittal (Lakshmi Mittal), Diageo (Ivan Menezes), Reckitt Benckiser (Rakesh Kapoor), MasterCard (Ajay Banga), DBS Group Holdings (Piyush Gupta), SanDisk (Sanjay Mehrotra), Global Foundries (Sanjay Jha), Cognizant (Francisco Dsouza) and Adobe (Shantanu Narayen).
International magazine Time once termed CEOs as India’s leading "export" and said that the subcontinent could be "the ideal training ground for global bosses".
While Google reported a USD 66 billion revenue in 2014, Microsoft had recorded turnover of over USD 86 billion last year, PepsiCo's annual revenue stood at nearly USD 67 billion in 2014, ArcelorMittal's annual revenue stood at USD 79.26 billion, Diageo had USD 21 billion, Reckitt Benckiser USD 13.75 billion and SanDisk at USD 6.62 billion.
In the past, giants like Citigroup, Vodafone, Motorola and Deutsche Bank have also had Indian-origin CEOs.
Moreover, former Google Executive Nikesh Arora, who is currently President of Japanese telecom major SoftBank, is likely to be its next CEO as SoftBank's founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son has chosen Arora to be his successor.
According to human resource experts, the significant rise of India-born executives at global companies can largely be attributed to the technical skills and the behavioural patterns which make them very much adaptable to any kind of situation they come across.
Experts believe that Indians’ focus on good education and ability to work in difficult situations are aiding to this rising trend and more and more Indians could rise to top positions at global companies in near future.
Pichai, 43, has joined the league of Indra Nooyi, Lakshmi Mittal, Ajay Banga, among many other Indian-origin persons at the helm at large conglomerates headquartered abroad.
Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, was the first to congratulate Pichai. Nadella tweeted on Pichai's elevation at the company, writing in the micro-blogging site "Congrats @sundarpichai well deserved."
There are many other Indians heading the businesses at relatively smaller companies abroad, specially in IT sector, but at least 12 large companies have got India-born chief executives.
These include Microsoft (Satya Nadella), PepsiCo (Indra Nooyi), ArcelorMittal (Lakshmi Mittal), Diageo (Ivan Menezes), Reckitt Benckiser (Rakesh Kapoor), MasterCard (Ajay Banga), DBS Group Holdings (Piyush Gupta), SanDisk (Sanjay Mehrotra), Global Foundries (Sanjay Jha), Cognizant (Francisco Dsouza) and Adobe (Shantanu Narayen).
International magazine Time once termed CEOs as India’s leading "export" and said that the subcontinent could be "the ideal training ground for global bosses".
While Google reported a USD 66 billion revenue in 2014, Microsoft had recorded turnover of over USD 86 billion last year, PepsiCo's annual revenue stood at nearly USD 67 billion in 2014, ArcelorMittal's annual revenue stood at USD 79.26 billion, Diageo had USD 21 billion, Reckitt Benckiser USD 13.75 billion and SanDisk at USD 6.62 billion.
In the past, giants like Citigroup, Vodafone, Motorola and Deutsche Bank have also had Indian-origin CEOs.
Moreover, former Google Executive Nikesh Arora, who is currently President of Japanese telecom major SoftBank, is likely to be its next CEO as SoftBank's founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son has chosen Arora to be his successor.
According to human resource experts, the significant rise of India-born executives at global companies can largely be attributed to the technical skills and the behavioural patterns which make them very much adaptable to any kind of situation they come across.
Experts believe that Indians’ focus on good education and ability to work in difficult situations are aiding to this rising trend and more and more Indians could rise to top positions at global companies in near future.
CHENNAI
BORN
Indian
techies often change their names when they start working in the US
and so did P Sundarrajan, but not all become Sundar Pichai -- the new
CEO of global technology giant Google.
43-year-old Pichai, who expanded his initials and shortened his name after shifting to the US, began his career with Google in 2004 as a "low-key" manager and colleagues say there is no single Googler who did not like him ever.
From working on the Google toolbar, to the very successful Chrome browser, IIT-Kharagpur graduate Pichai became a clear number-two to the then CEO Larry Page last year and was made the CEO of a re-organised Google today.
While at Google, he also refused a job offer from Twitter, the popular social media platform which was today flooded with posts to congratulate him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated him.
Known to be a shy person, Pichai was very selective in saying "thanks", and those to whom he replied included Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, another Indian-origin person who has hit it big in the US, and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"I remember him being very focused and studious in school. He left after class X to join another school," said P Subramaniam, who was one year senior to Pichai at Vana Vani Matriculation School in Chennai.
"I remember him being very quiet and reserved", he said.
Born and raised in Chennai, Pichai studied till Class X at Vana Vani Matriculation School located in IIT campus here. Later he completed Class XII from Jawahar Vidyalaya at Ashok Nagar area of the city.
Pichai did B.Tech from IIT-Kharagpur, after which his teachers suggested him to go for a PhD. He, however, decided to pursue MS from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
He joined Google in 2004 as its vice president of product management, where he led the team working on Chrome browser and operating system.
Before joining Google, he also worked at McKinsey and Applied Materials.
43-year-old Pichai, who expanded his initials and shortened his name after shifting to the US, began his career with Google in 2004 as a "low-key" manager and colleagues say there is no single Googler who did not like him ever.
From working on the Google toolbar, to the very successful Chrome browser, IIT-Kharagpur graduate Pichai became a clear number-two to the then CEO Larry Page last year and was made the CEO of a re-organised Google today.
While at Google, he also refused a job offer from Twitter, the popular social media platform which was today flooded with posts to congratulate him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated him.
Known to be a shy person, Pichai was very selective in saying "thanks", and those to whom he replied included Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, another Indian-origin person who has hit it big in the US, and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"I remember him being very focused and studious in school. He left after class X to join another school," said P Subramaniam, who was one year senior to Pichai at Vana Vani Matriculation School in Chennai.
"I remember him being very quiet and reserved", he said.
Born and raised in Chennai, Pichai studied till Class X at Vana Vani Matriculation School located in IIT campus here. Later he completed Class XII from Jawahar Vidyalaya at Ashok Nagar area of the city.
Pichai did B.Tech from IIT-Kharagpur, after which his teachers suggested him to go for a PhD. He, however, decided to pursue MS from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
He joined Google in 2004 as its vice president of product management, where he led the team working on Chrome browser and operating system.
Before joining Google, he also worked at McKinsey and Applied Materials.
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