Google and Microsoft are the two tech giants that have surmounted our daily lives. The companies with their innovative offerings have made our lives simpler, easier, and comfortable. Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) and Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) head these top multinational companies. With their unique traits and working capabilities, they have made these companies reach the next level. In this article, let us look at Sundar Pichai vs Satya Nadella, of the world’s best tech companies Google and Microsoft.
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Sundar Pichai vs Satya Nadella
The image below shows the comparison of Sundar Pichai vs Satya Nadella
Sundar Pichai vs Satya Nadella
Google and Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai joined Google in 2004 as its vice president for product management. Pichai was initially working on the small projects of Google.
He came into the limelight when he identified a weakness in Google’s strategy. He said that Microsoft may launch its own search engine and will set it as a default in the Internet Explorer and Google’s webpage would be removed from that permanently. There was no guarantee that the other web browsers would continue making the toolbars like Google available for its users. After some time, Microsoft came up with Bing and had set it up as a default search engine.
He was instrumental in the development of Google’s web browser, Chrome, as well as the Android mobile operating system. Today, Google Chrome occupies over 67.72% of the market share.
He has also been instrumental for the other Google search products, like Google Toolbar, Google Pack, Desktop Search, Gadgets, Firefox extensions, Google Gears, apps such as Gmail and Google Maps and Mac products. From April 2011 to July 2013, Pichai was the director of Jive Software. In 2014, he was a contender to be the CEO of Microsoft. However, Satya Nadella got the position. On August 10, 2015, he was selected to be the next CEO of Google and on October 24, 2015, he took the charge as the CEO of Google.
In 2011, Pichai wanted to leave Google to join the leadership team at Twitter. Fearing loss, Google offered him a whopping package of $50 million in stocks and retained him.
Sundar’s decisions for the company have made the company reach new heights. His current move in the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is expected to make a much bigger impact on the company’s profitability. This is going to create a big difference in the digital economy and will transform many fields globally.
Sundar Pichai salary over the years from our article How much is Salary of Sundar Pichai of Google? is shown below
Sundar Pichai Salary in 2019, 2018 and 2017
Video on Sundar Pichai’s Top 10 Rules For Success
Microsoft and Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 as an engineer where he worked on the Interactive TV products and Windows NT Operating System. On seeing his immense interest and love towards the technology, he was promoted to the role of Microsoft Central Vice President in 2000 and Microsoft Business Solution Vice President in 200. By the year 2007, he became the Vice President of Microsoft Online Services where he worked with the products including Bing Search Engine, Microsoft office, and Xbox Live.
During the time, Microsoft influence was dwindling. The company that was once known to be the wealthiest corporation of the world was left behind from its competitors Apple, Google, and Facebook. The company launched mobile experience in comparison to the Apple followed by Windows 8, a few years later. However, nothing was successful. Windows 8 was recognized as an unsuccessful disaster while the Windows phone lagged behind the iOS and Android operating systems. Microsoft was close to finish during that time. Its share became almost flat.
Satya Nadella became the CEO of the company in February 2014. The share of the company tripled with its valuation of over US $1 trillion, restoring its position of the world’s best publicly listed company.
Nadella reinvented productivity and came up with a new strategy of how Microsoft can define technology in the next decade. Several changes were made in the company after his leadership. The company came up with the products including Microsoft 10, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Surface Pro, Bing Search Engine, Xbox Live, and Microsoft Edge.
Nadella’s efforts in renewing the company’s culture and his strategies of re-invention had transformed the company. His approach to innovation and teamwork are recognized throughout the organization. Today, the company has shifted itself to the cloud powerhouse with its worth more than a trillion USD. And so has Satya Nadella pay and net worth as shown in the images below from salary.com
Satya Nadella Salary over the years in Microsoft
Satya Nadella salary breakup in 2019
- Releasing Microsoft Office for Apple’s iPad
- Releasing iPhone and Android apps like Microsoft Outlook
- Skipping Windows 9 and releasing Windows 10
- Using Linux operating system on the Azure cloud
- Buying Mojang (the company that created Minecraft)
- Introducing Microsoft Surface Book, the company’s first laptop
Hit Refresh Book by Satya Nadella
Nadella’s autobiography ‘Hit Refresh‘ explores his life and his career in Microsoft. It also elaborates on how technology will shape the future.
When Nadella took over the CEO role from Ballmer in 2014, Microsoft was, on paper, growing. Revenues were strong. But it was clear they were riding inertia of products past. From a competitive standpoint, they were not a threat.
Satya Nadella starts the book by describing what he saw in Microsoft when he took over. How culture became combatant and political. He saw early his primary job was to renew the company’s culture. Employees were disheartened. Sales were down. They missed mobile. Their cloud strategy, “Windows Azure”, was growing but not a priority. Internal politics ruled. Job one on day one was to build hope and positive cultural momentum.
His 2015 global summit speech laid the foundation for his vision and priorities for Microsoft. Most importantly, Nadella described the culture he envisioned for Microsoft. How empathy and individual empowerment was Microsoft’s soul. He challenged Microsoft employees to question their purpose, their life’s goals. To think deeply and become passionate about their lives and work. He wants Microsoft to be a place where people are encouraged to do their life’s best work.
After culture, Nadella had to lay out the vision and priorities for Microsoft. Now keep in mind he was running straight into the Microsoft “old guard” who were protecting their entrenched business units.
After the brief intro about Microsoft, Nadella talks about his childhood, family, growing up, school, moving to the US, working for Sun, then Microsoft, having a family, and raising a son, Zain, with severe Cerebral Palsy. He failed the famous Indian Institute of Technology’s entrance exam and went to an BTECH EE from Manipal.
Nadella ends the book talking about the work they are doing in AI, mixed reality, and quantum computing.
Nadella has transitioned Microsoft into a cloud and AI first company. Azure is growing tremendously, as is the amount of AI products and tools that Microsoft provides.
Video on Satya Nadella Top 10 Rules For Success
Indians as CEOs of MNC
There are many Indians or people of Indian origin who are at the helm of global-multinationals abroad. Richard Herman, co-author of a book on migrants to the U.S., Immigrant, Inc. says “Of all the immigrant groups coming in today, Indians are head-and-shoulders above others, and this is partly because of their English language skills and also the advanced education that many of them are bringing to the U.S.”
Indra Nooyi was CEO of Pepsi. Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 and was named CEO in 2006 and served as CEO till 2018. During her tenure, the company’s sales grew 80%
Many of the Indians who are CEO of the multinationals are shown in the image below
Indians who are CEOs of MNC
Adobe, the parent company of Photoshop software, is headed by Shantanu Narayen who joined Adobe in 1998 as a senior Vice-President of worldwide product research and was later promoted to executive vice president of worldwide products and appointed to his current post in January 2005.
Ajay Banga is the president and CEO of MasterCard since Jul 2010. The Government of India awarded him Padma Shri in 2016.
Rajeev Suri is the CEO of Nokia, from 2009 to Sep 2020. He is a Singaporean citizen.
Nikesh Arora is the CEO and chairman of Palo Alto Networks. He was formerly a senior executive at Google. He served as the president of SoftBank Group from October 2014 to June 2016. On June 1, 2018, Arora took on the role of CEO and chairman at Palo Alto Networks.
Sandeep Mathrani was named CEO at WeWork in Feb 2020.
Arvind Krishna is the CEO of IBM. Krishna began his career at IBM as an engineer in IBM Research was promoted to senior vice president in 2015, to CEO in 2020.He led IBM’s 2018 acquisition of Red Hat for $34 billion, which is the largest software company acquisition in history.
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In the end, it’s a pleasure for us that the CEOs of the two big tech companies in the world are Indian. We are proud of them for making our country recognized positively across the world. And they have inspired so many Indians. Whom do you like more Sundar Pichai or Satya Nadella?
