Google to re-organise into holding company called Alphabet; Sundar Pichai to lead Internet-focussed Google Inc

Cofounder Larry Page announced an overhaul that will result in the separation of the company’s science ventures and long-term bets into Alphabet.

By ET Bureau | Updated: Aug 12, 2015, 01.14 AM IST

Google to re-organise into holding company called Alphabet; Sundar Pichai to lead Internet-focussed Google Inc

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Sundar Pichai has risen to the top of Google amid a torrent of praise for his technical smarts and amicable style, qualities that will be put to the test as he leads the company after a big restructuring involving the separation of ambitious ‘moonshot’ ventures into a new entity called Alphabet.

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, politicians and technology executives led the encomiums for Pichai, 43, whose ascent to the job of CEO on Monday puts him in the pantheon of Indian-origin software engineers leading top global software firms.

"It is rare to find the balance of strategic vision, execution capability and EQ that Sundar possesses," said Nikesh Arora, the former chief business officer of Google who is now the president of SoftBank.

Cofounder Larry Page announced an overhaul that will result in the separation of the company’s science ventures and long-term bets into Alphabet, the entity which will also be the parent for the money-spinning Internet products business Google.

Madurai-born Pichai’s "emotional quotient", a quality that fosters teamwork and engenders the loyalty of top-class talent, is seen serving him well. His tact was at play when Samsung decided to scale back Magazine UX, a user experience which could threaten visibility of Google services that come embedded with Android, the operating system which runs on three out of four smartphones in the world, according to a Bloomberg Business profile last year. The two companies agreed to work together after diplomacy led by Pichai.

"He’s got a strong team that will follow him. Youcould even have personal conversation with him to talk through things. That personal touch allows him to partner in this complex ecosystem of equipment manufacturers, retailers, app developers and across things," a top Google executive, who has worked closely with Pichai, told ET.

With more than 90 per cent market share, Google already dominates Internet search, its core business. Growing this business would mean bringing more people online as well as reaching beyond the developed world. Pichai, who was educated at IIT-Kharagpur, Stanford University and Wharton Business School, has led products such as Gmail, Chrome and Android beyond the developed world to reach billions of users. "His mission is to reach all 7 billion people. That focus on users, and not just where the revenue is, makes him the ideal CEO for a company like Google," Lalitesh Katragadda, former head of products at Google India, told ET. "The challenge is how one walks the fine line of making sure that the products are competing in the developed markets while you are making sure it works for everyone," he said.

NEED TO OUTSMART FACEBOOK

Pichai will also have to figure out ways to outsmart Facebook, which competes for the same online advertising dollars. "Google itself is also making all sorts of new products, and I know Sundar will always be focussed on innovation — continuing to stretch boundaries," Google cofounder Larry Page wrote in a blog post. Page will now become the CEO of Alphabet, the holding company, of which Google will be the biggest entity.

"I think he is exactly what Google needs to continue driving its lead in the Internet space," said Arora. Pichai’s focus on global users was evident right from the time he took over Android. His first major statement was that he wanted to reach 7 billion people.

Pichai, who studied metallurgical engineering at IIT, joined Google in 2004 as a product manager, six years after Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched the company which became synonymous with Internet search.

In his early years at Google, he mostly focussed on the "search bar", which later helped Google cement its position as the default search engine on computers.

HELPING GOOGLE RAKE IN MILLIONS

He was also behind the idea of promoting the Google toolbar inside Google Earth, so users could directly search for information without having to key in Google.com. Eric Schmidt, who will now be the chairman of Alphabet, wrote in his book ‘How Google Works’ that the feature brought in millions of dollars. Pichai was in charge of Android after Andy Rubin left Google in 2013.

People who have worked with Pichai call him easy to get along with, enthusiastic and softspoken. "Sundar comes out as a very down-toearth, very humble techie. He showed keen interest in learning about India and I see him as a keen watcher of progress we are making here," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO and founder of Alibaba-backed ecommerce firm Paytm. Pichai visits India almost every year once in December. On one such occasion in 2012, Katragadda hosted a fireside chat where his passion for India was on full display. "His reactions were thought-provoking, focussed on the users and engineering-centric. It left us feeling that he was someone in the leadership who could understand Indian products," Katragadda said.

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Google's new CEO Sundar Pichai: 10 things to know

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A soccer fan who hails from Tamil Nadu, Pichai holds a master's degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.