10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sundar Pichai

Sundar Pichai is the Chief Executive Officer at Google. He’s well known for his successful leadership of the mega-corporation. The native of Madurai, India has established himself in the corporate world. He’s regarded as the man behind many of Google’s most important products. Aside from his life at Google, he’s a man who has done some remarkable things. He’s best known for what he’s accomplished in his career with Google, but there is far more to tell. Here are ten things that you didn’t know about Sundar Pichai.

He’s a big fan of cricket

Sundar Pichai is a hard worker but he isn’t exactly all work and no play. Pichai is fond of sports and his favorite game is cricket. He follows the sport whenever he can. He fell in love with the sport when he was young. Sundar made the cut for his school team and found that he had a talent for playing the game. He served as captain of the school’s team.

He grew up without many modern conveniences

Sundar Pichai doesn’t need to worry about money because he has more than he can possibly spend, but this wasn’t the case as he was growing up. Sundar was born in Madurai, India in 1972. His family did not even have a telephone until he reached the age of 12. He definitely understands the value of a dollar and he knows how to bring them in one after another. There were four in his family and they shared a two room apartment without a television and Sundar and his brother slept in the living room. They didn’t own a car and used a blue scooter to get around when they weren’t taking a crowded bus.

He discouraged a friend from working at Google before he took a job there

Sundar Pichai is a friendly person who cares about others and he’s willing to give advice when asked about his opinion. A friend of his was considering taking a job with Google. He attempted to talk him out of it. Once he learned more about the company, he realized that it was a corporation that offered a chance to advance. He wasn’t trying to be a hypocrite, but he was open minded enough to give it a chance.

He regularly Skypes with IIT-Kharagpur students

Pichai gives of his own time to offer encouragement and support for others. It’s a certainty that he has his plate full with his very successful career, but this doesn’t stop him from making time for others. He’s happy to talk on the virtual face to face program to give advice and discuss things that are important to the students.

Google gave Sundar a pay raise to keep him

Google values the work that Pichai does for them so highly that they gave him a dramatic pay increase so he wouldn’t leave. Twitter made an attempt to lure him away from Google with an enticing offer, but Sundar’s employers were not about to let him go.

Sundar Pichai was with Google early in the game

Pichai did end up taking a chance by joining the Google team. He did so before the company even went public. It may have been a gamble, but it was certainly a good one. The company soared to astronomical heights, but they realize that a part of their amazing success is credited to the brilliance of Sundar Pichai and his consistent contributions to the growth of the company.

He is a family man

In addition to being a high ranking executive with the Google corporation, Sundar Pichai is also a family man. He married Anjali Pichai and the couple have two children together. Their names are Kiran Pichai and Kavya Pichai.

He has an impressive memory

One of the most interesting bits of trivia about Sundar Pichai is that he has a very good memory. He had the ability to remember every phone number that he had ever dialed when he was younger. This probably isn’t still the case as he is likely to dial thousands of numbers in a year’s time, but as a young man (which he technically still is), he had an amazing ability to remember small details.

People like him

Not all CEOs can make this claim because the higher a person climbs in the corporate world, the more enemies one makes. This doesn’t seem to be the case for Sunar Pichai. He is well liked by his colleagues and he is reported to be a friendly and well-grounded guy that is easy to talk to.

He is a billionaire

Pichai’s purchased shares in Google brought in over $199 million in 2016. This increased his total holdings with the company to $650 million. He is a wise investor and has built a massive fortune through wise investments and earnings. His estimated net worth for 2017 is $1.2 billion.