Who Is Sundar Pichai? CEO of Google and Alphabet

Sundar Pichai is the chief executive of Google and of its parent company, Alphabet. He joined Google in 2004, became its CEO in October 2015 and took charge of Alphabet as well in December 2019. Before the top job, Pichai ran Google's product side, including Chrome and Android.

Alphabet says its revenue has grown by double digits for 13 quarters in a row, and its filings bear that out. Counting every full quarter since Pichai became Alphabet's CEO in December 2019, 22 of 27 grew by double digits on the year before. The five that didn't came in two patches, one quarter in 2020 and a slow year from mid-2022 to mid-2023.

What Does Sundar Pichai Do?

Pichai runs Google and Alphabet, the holding company that owns it. Larry Page and Sergey Brin handed him the top job at the parent company in their 2019 letter. It described his job as leading Google and "managing Alphabet's investment in our portfolio of Other Bets," the long-term businesses such as Waymo.

He also sits on Alphabet's board, as a director since 2017. He doesn't chair it, though. Alphabet's 2026 proxy statementnames John Hennessy as the board's independent chair, a job the company keeps separate from the CEO's. At Microsoft, Satya Nadella holds both jobs as chairman and CEO.

The same proxy credits Pichai with shifting the company's strategy toward AI.

On the results call in late October 2026, Pichai said Alphabet was at "a half-trillion-dollar annual run rate." A run rate scales a recent stretch of revenue up to a full year, so it's a pace and not a year's sales.

He also reported that Google Cloud's revenue grew 103% on the year before, and that growth in Search queries was the highest in five years.

Does Sundar Pichai Own Google?

Pichai runs Google as its chief executive, but he didn't found it. Larry Page and Sergey Brin did, and the 2026 proxy lists both as co-founders and as directors since 1998. Their 2019 letter traces Google to a bet they made as two Stanford students, with servers moved from a dorm room to a garage in 1998. Pichai arrived six years later.

Google itself belongs to Alphabet, its parent since 2015. When Page set up the holding company, his August 2015 lettersaid Google would become "a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet." It added that every Google share would convert into the same number of Alphabet shares.

Alphabet's shares trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG, so its owners are the people and funds that hold them.

TradFi futures on GOOGL work differently. They track the share price, but you hold a contract and get no shares, votes or dividends.

Sundar Pichai's Career at Google Since 2004

Pichai joined Google in 2004 and built his career on its products. The proxy lists him as senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps from March 2013. He then held the broader title of senior vice president of Products from October 2014 until he became CEO a year later.

Why Did Sundar Pichai Become CEO of Google?

Larry Page chose him in August 2015, when he announced Alphabet as Google's new parent company. Page wrote that Pichai had "really stepped up" since taking on product and engineering for Google's internet businesses the October before. He added that "it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google."

The new structure let Page run Alphabet while Pichai ran Google, the largest of its companies. Pichai took over as Google's CEO in October 2015, the month Alphabet became the parent.

From Google's CEO to Alphabet's

Four years later the founders stepped back from running the company. Their December 2019 letter said Alphabet and Google no longer needed "two CEOs and a President." "Going forward, Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet," they wrote. They called him the person they had relied on most since Alphabet was founded, and said they would stay involved as board members and co-founders.

Pichai's email to staff that day said the change wouldn't affect the Alphabet structure or the work done day to day.

How Has Alphabet Grown Under Sundar Pichai?

Alphabet's revenue grew by 10% or more on the year before in 22 of the 27 full quarters since Pichai became its CEO. That runs from January-March 2020 to July-September 2026, with each quarter set against the same quarter a year earlier in Alphabet's SEC filings.

The count backs up the company's own claim. Alphabet's results release for the quarter to September 2026 called it "our 13th consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth." The filings show 13 in a row since July-September 2023.

The 2021 jump looks huge because it's measured against the 2020 fall. Fast growth isn't new at Alphabet either. All 15 quarters from January-March 2016 to July-September 2019 grew 10% or more, and even the slowest rose about 17%. Those were the years when Pichai ran Google and Page ran Alphabet.

What's new is the slow year from mid-2022 to mid-2023, when four quarters in a row grew less than 10%. The count covers revenue alone. It can't show you profit, or how much of the growth was Pichai's own doing.

The streak is Alphabet's headline, but the pace is the number we'd watch. Growth climbed back to about 25% in the quarter to September 2026. The company last beat that rate in late 2021, so each new report will be judged against it.

How to Trade GOOGL Futures on Phemex

Phemex has listed the GOOGL/USDT perpetual since February 2026. It's a futures contract with no expiry date that tracks Alphabet's GOOGL share price and settles in USDT. Each contract is worth one GOOGL share, but you don't own the stock.

You can go long if you expect the price to rise or short if you expect it to fall, with leverage of up to 10x. Futures use leverage, and a leveraged position is closed automatically if losses push its margin below a set minimum. Funding, a regular payment between long and short holders, keeps the contract close to the share price.

The contract keeps trading after Nasdaq closes and through the weekend. A futures contract only references the share price, which is why TradFi assets can be traded 24/7 as futures, so GOOGL/USDT can move while the stock market is shut.

Alphabet's quarterly results are the scheduled event to plan around. Earnings reports top the list of stock-specific risks traders should know before trading TradFi futures, because a share price can gap when results land.

1. Log in to Phemex and move USDT into your futures account.

2. Search for GOOGL and open the GOOGL/USDT perpetual contract.

3. Choose long or short, then set your leverage and a stop-loss.

4. Size the position so a gap after results can't wipe out your margin.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Sundar Pichai study at university?

Alphabet's 2026 proxy statement lists three degrees for Pichai. He holds a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and a Master of Science from Stanford University. His MBA comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

When did Sundar Pichai become CEO of Alphabet?

In December 2019. Larry Page had run Alphabet since its creation in 2015, and he stepped back that month along with Sergey Brin. Pichai took the parent company's top job and kept running Google as well.

Is Sundar Pichai still CEO of Google?

Yes, and he runs Alphabet as well as Google. Alphabet's results release in late October 2026 quoted him as CEO of Google and Alphabet, and his author page on Google's blog carries the same title.

What did Sundar Pichai do before he became CEO?

He ran products. Over 11 years at Google, Pichai rose to run Chrome and Android, then became senior vice president of Products a year before he was named CEO in 2015.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.