Sundar Pichai steps into huge role as Alphabet CEO

Taking the reins as chief executive of Google parent Alphabet, the soft-spoken, Indian-born Sundar Pichai faces a host of challenges at one of the world's most valuable companies, which has become besieged by activists and political leaders.

The 47-year-old Pichai, who will remain as Google CEO in addition to taking up the new post, is seen as a steadying influence at a time when the Silicon Valley titan faces an onslaught from regulators and others.

The move comes as Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping away from their roles at the company they founded two decades ago in a California garage.

Pichai will take over from Page as CEO of Alphabet, which includes Google as well as units focused on its "other bets" in areas including self-driving cars, life sciences and a variety of "moonshot" projects.

Born in the southern India city of Chennai, Pichai studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur before heading to the United States.

After leaving India, he earned a degree in engineering and materials science at Stanford University and a master's in business administration at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

"He's very intelligent, very capable, seems very low-key and tempered," said Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at Technalysis Research.

"I would think he's a calming force overall but he's got to tackle some of these issues."