Google Founders’ Hand-Picked CEO Nears Billionaire Status Too

Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai is on the cusp of achieving a rare milestone for a non-founder tech executive: a 10-figure fortune.

Since Pichai, 51, became CEO of Google in 2015, the stock has surged more than 400%, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 and Nasdaq over the same period. It hit a fresh record Friday after the company’s first-quarter earnings beat expectations, boosted by AI-driven growth in its cloud computing unit. It also introduced a dividend for the first time in its history.

Sundar Pichai

Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg

That rally, alongside hefty stock awards that have made him one of the ...