It is easy to underestimate Sundar Pichai. Unassuming to the point of diffidence, the Indian-born tech executive is a notable exception to the alpha personalities who populate Silicon Valley’s executive suites. One person who has worked with him at Google calls him “very cautious”, almost the opposite of the “buccaneering spirit” upon which the company was founded.
Yet this week, Mr Pichai, who has headed Google’s core internet business for four years, took full management control of its parent company, one of the world’s most powerful tech empires. As chief executive officer of Alphabet, he gains control of the group’s “moonshot” projects to develop driverless cars, delivery drones, and drugs to halt the effects of ageing. His elevation comes as Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, step away from direct involvement after 21 years.
With Tim Cook at Apple and Satya Nadella at Microsoft, Mr Pichai now leads a successor generation of tech chief executives, charged with steering companies that helped define the digital age into an uncertain future. For Google is under intense scrutiny by politicians and regulators and has been riven by internal upheaval caused by a sexual harassment scandal and worker activism. Its ability to keep innovating is in question, as it reaches a size that has hampered earlier generations of big companies. To cap it all, Google’s founders will continue to hold a majority voting position in the company and sit on its board.