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Sundar Pichai

CEO of Google and Alphabet12

By Kenning

Sundar Pichai is the chief executive of Google and of its parent company Alphabet. He has run Google since October 2015 and Alphabet since December 2019.12

His final Google interview, he told Stanford graduates in 2026, was on April Fool’s Day 2004, the day Gmail launched. By 2023 he counted 15 Google products with more than half a billion users each, and six with more than two billion.514

A degree each from Kharagpur, Stanford and Wharton

Pichai holds a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, a master's from Stanford and an MBA from the Wharton School. He joined Google in 2004.24

Giving evidence to a US House committee in 2021, he said: "I joined Google in 2004 because I believed the internet was the best way to bring the benefits of technology to more people, and I believe that still today."12

Android, Chrome and the climb to the top

In March 2013 he became Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome and Apps. That month Google said more than 750 million Android devices had been activated and 25 billion apps downloaded from Google Play. A year and a half later he became Senior Vice President of Products.26

Google named him CEO in October 2015. He has been an Alphabet director since 2017, and he took the Alphabet chief executive role in December 2019. Alphabet's proxy says he has led product and engineering for Search, Chrome, Maps, Android, Gmail and Google Workspace.2

An AI-first company, by his account

Pichai says he decided "when I became CEO in 2015, that Google should pivot to be an AI-first company." Alphabet's proxy says he has shifted the company's strategy to focus on AI.45

In 2023 he said Android ran on 3 billion devices. In January 2026 he said Google had been processing 8.3 trillion tokens on its API in December 2024. In February 2026 Google announced a $15 billion infrastructure investment in India, and his blog post carried the headline "No technology has me dreaming bigger than AI". He also says Google is "making sure we do it responsibly".151315

Courts and regulators on Google's conduct

These cases are against Google as a company, not against Pichai personally. In United States et al. v. Google LLC, a federal court in Washington, DC concluded in August 2024 that "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly" under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The Justice Department filed the case on 20 October 2020. The 2025 remedy barred exclusive contracts for distributing Search, Chrome, Google Assistant and the Gemini app. In its February 2025 annual report, Alphabet said it intended to appeal after the remedies decision.7917

A Virginia federal court held in April 2025 that Google had monopolised open-web digital advertising markets. In September 2025 the European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion for favouring its own ad-tech services.1011

A California jury found in December 2023, in Epic Games v. Google, that Google violated US antitrust law relating to Google Play. Google replied that "The Epic verdict missed the obvious: Apple and Android clearly compete", and said it would appeal.716

In February 2024 Google also said of Gemini's image generation: "Some of the images generated are inaccurate or even offensive. We’re grateful for users’ feedback and are sorry the feature didn't work well."8

Pichai, year by year

  1. Joined Google2

  2. Became Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome and Apps; Android had passed 750 million activated devices26

  3. Became Senior Vice President of Products2

  4. Named Chief Executive Officer of Google2

  5. Joined the Alphabet board of directors2

  6. Became Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet as well2

  7. A California jury found in Epic Games v. Google that Google violated US antitrust law relating to Google Play7

  8. Google apologised after Gemini produced inaccurate or offensive historical images8

  9. A US federal court in Washington, DC found Google a monopolist in search9

  10. A Virginia federal court held that Google monopolised open-web advertising markets10

  11. The European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion over ad tech; the US search remedies barred certain exclusive contracts911

Questions people ask about Sundar Pichai

Who is Sundar Pichai?

The chief executive of Google and of its parent company Alphabet. He joined Google in 2004 and became its CEO in October 2015.12

When did Sundar Pichai become CEO of Alphabet?

December 2019, when he took the Alphabet role as well as Google's.2

How much was Sundar Pichai paid in 2025?

Alphabet's 2026 proxy statement lists total compensation of $10,906,079, including a salary of $2,007,692. It reports a 35 to 1 ratio between his pay and the median employee's.2

How old is Sundar Pichai?

The 2026 proxy statement lists him as 53. He was born in 1972.23

Where did Sundar Pichai study?

IIT Kharagpur (B.Tech), Stanford University (MS) and the Wharton School (MBA).4

Is Sundar Pichai personally on trial in Google's antitrust cases?

No source on this page says so. The cases are against Google as a company: the US search case was filed by the Justice Department in October 2020.917

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Google on Kenning

Google Gemini

Google's chatbot, built into Android, Gmail and Docs, with a generous free plan.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Google's upgraded Pro model from February 2026 for complex reasoning and coding

Google AI Studio

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Gemini CLI

Google's open-source AI agent that runs Gemini in the terminal for coding and other tasks

Sources

  1. About Googleabout.google · primary
  2. SEC EDGAR (Alphabet 2026 proxy, DEF 14A)sec.gov · primary · 24 April 2026
  3. Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · secondary
  4. SEC EDGAR (Alphabet 2025 proxy, DEF 14A)sec.gov · primary · 25 April 2025
  5. Google Blogblog.google · primary · 27 September 2023
  6. Google Blogblog.google · primary · 13 March 2013
  7. SEC EDGAR (Alphabet 2024 Form 10-K)sec.gov · primary · 5 February 2025
  8. Google Blogblog.google · primary · 23 February 2024
  9. US Department of Justicejustice.gov · primary · 2 September 2025
  10. US Department of Justicejustice.gov · primary · 17 April 2025
  11. European Commissiondigital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu · primary · 5 September 2025
  12. Google Blog (House testimony)blog.google · primary · 25 March 2021
  13. Google India Blogblog.google · primary · 19 February 2026
  14. Google Blogblog.google · primary · 14 June 2026
  15. Google Blogblog.google · primary · 12 January 2026
  16. Google Blogblog.google · primary · 7 October 2024
  17. Midpage (PACER docket)courtlistener.com · primary · 5 December 2025

Checked against these sources. We review every page at least every three months.