With the recent shakeup at Google on the heels of the announcement of Alphabet, the newly created holding company that would encompass all of Google's businesses - as reported eariler today by HNGN - some people are bound to get bumped up. One of the most of important of these is Sundar Pichai, who was appointed as Google's CEO Tuesday.
His name seldom hogged the headlines, so the question that people are asking now is who exactly is this person, reported NBC News.
Pichai is an Indian-born engineer, moving only to the United States when he studied for his master's degree at Stanford University. He was reported to have joined Google in 2004, about the time when the company introduced Gmail. Thereafter, he became involved in products that would have a major effect on the way Google works, according to NBC News. He was in charge of Google Toolbar, then was promoted to lead the unit behind the Chrome browser. In 2013, he came to head the Android division, which effectively made him the most powerful man in mobile, according to Bloomberg. Many believe that his successes in each of these products helped him to become one of Google's most important figures.
"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. And it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google," Larry Page, outgoing Google CEO, posted in Google's official blog.
As CEO of a restructured Google, Pichai will lead a smaller organization than the Google of old. However, the responsibilities are still immense and Pichai seems to be up to the challenge.
"He's been depicted as an effective and reliable manager, able to navigate and get the best out of a complicated corporate structure, quietly maintaining and improving the company's most valuable assets," NBC News reported.
