The CEO Magazine Asia — January 2018

SUNDAR PICHAI

From humble beginnings in India, the CEO of Google

has maintained an upwards trajectory ever since.

“Our job is to build great

products for users that make

a difference in their lives.

To suggest a group of our

colleagues has traits that make

them less biologically suited

to that work is offensive and

not OK.”

DAMAGE

CONTROL

192 | theceomagazine.com

“Sundar has been saying the things

I would have said (and sometimes

better!) for quite some time now.”

• Larry Page

LARRY’S

NEXT PAGE

“I have a secret project which

adds four hours every day to the

24 hours we have. There’s a bit

of time travel involved.”

ECHOES OF MUSK

“He has this amazing, almost

12-year track record of being

this guy that always launched

things that people wanted.”

• Wesley Chan, colleague

MIDAS TOUCH

CAREER IN BRIEF

After graduating in 1993, Pichai’s first job is as an

engineer and product manager at a Silicon Valley

semiconductor manufacturer,

Applied Materials.

2001

While studying for his MBA at Wharton, he works at

management consultancy McKinsey but according to

The New York Times, he leaves for Google after trying

to talk one of his McKinsey colleagues out

of going there, then realising the arguments in

favour of joining were better.

2004

Joins Google as a product developer of its client

software products, and in the following five years

works on Chrome, Drive, Maps and Gmail.

2009

In a crowded market, Pichai convinces Google

founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page they need

an operating system of their own and launches

cloud-based Chrome OS.

2013

Takes over as head of Android OS.

2014

Becomes Page’s 2IC as head of products.

2015

Rumours abound that Microsoft wants him to

succeed Steve Ballmer, and Brin and Page quickly

announce they are stepping away from Google

to run parent company Alphabet Inc., naming

Pichai as Google’s CEO.

2017

THAT memo is released and the sexist side of Silicon

Valley is laid bare. Pichai earns his US$199.7 million

salary by going into damage control, launching loads

of new hardware and nipping at the heels of Apple to

become Forbes’ second most valuable brand in the

world. He himself is worth US$1.2 billion.

CEO CV