Alphabet’s recent earnings beat marks a significant milestone, adding to the company’s impressive growth since early 2023. During this period, Alphabet has increased its market value by over $US1 trillion and delivered returns of approximately 120 per cent to its investors. This surge has propelled CEO Sundar Pichai into the billionaire ranks. Alphabet Inc. is a multinational technology company that focuses on search engine technology, cloud computing, software and advertising. Its most well known product is Google search.
As Alphabet’s shares approach an all-time high, Pichai’s net worth has reached $US1.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This achievement is notable for a non-founding chief executive officer, particularly in the tech sector where many top executives, like Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, accumulated their wealth through founding equity stakes. Pichai assumed the role of CEO in August of 2015, and is now the longest-serving in the company’s history.
Pichai’s journey to becoming a billionaire is a classic ‘rags to riches’ story. He was born into a middle-class family and raised in a modest two-room apartment in Tamil Nadu, India. His family did not own a car and only obtained their first telephone when he was 12 years old.
In 1993, Pichai received a graduate scholarship to attend Stanford University. To afford the plane ticket to California, his family spent more than his father’s annual income – $US1000. A spokesperson for Alphabet, headquartered in Mountain View, California, declined to comment on Pichai’s net worth.