With great power comes great responsibility, and even greater paycheques. But, hey, you’ve got to work your way up and earn that paycheque like these 7 highest-paid CEOs in the world, who earned in crores last year—further advancing their multi-digit net worths
7 Richest Indian CEOs in the world -
A force to reckon with in the tech space, Thomas Kurian amassed a net worth of Rs 10,600 crore in 2019. Kurian is presently the CEO of Google Cloud. He joined the platform in 2018, replacing Diane Green. Prior to this role, he was the President of Product Development at Oracle Corporation (from 1996 to 2018). Notably, Kurian completed his bachelors from Princeton University and also holds an MBA from Stanford University.
Jayshree Ullal is an Indian-origin billionaire aside from being one of the highest-paid CEOs in the world. She has been the president and CEO of Arista – a cloud networking company since 2008. According to Forbes, Ullal owns about 5% of Arista's stock, some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece and nephew. She is also currently one of America's wealthiest female executives.
Born in Uttar Pradesh, Nikesh Arora started his career as a Google Executive and ended up becoming one of the highest-paid employees there. However, he quit this job and joined Softbank and held the position of President/COO/Representative Director. In 2018, he switched again and took on the role of CEO and Chairman at Palo Alto Networks, an American multinational cybersecurity company and his diverse experiences have only helped him increase the digits on his paycheque.
A graduate of Delhi University and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Ajay Banga is not just the CEO of MasterCard but also President and also a member of its board of directors. And prior to MasterCard, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup Asia Pacific and also supervised the company’s efforts in micro-finance. Notably, he is also a Padma Shri recipient and a founding Trustee of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum. One of the highest-paid CEOs in the world, he began his career at Nestlé, India, where he worked for 13 years and then moved onto PepsiCo, while simultaneously crawling up the corporate ladder.
Originally from Hyderabad, Satya Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 and held leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company before being named the CEO in 2014. Nadella is one of the most easily recognisable faces in the corporate space and is known for his transformative leadership skills. Notably, he holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. So, clearly, sometimes staying put in one company can also work wonders for your CV.
Shantanu Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 as Vice President and General Manager of its engineering technology group. He became president and COO in 2005, CEO in 2007 and Chairman of the board in 2017. He holds five patents and has a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Interestingly, he’s also from Hyderabad and his continuous efforts have bagged him a spot on the Fortune Businessperson of the Year list multiple times and also a Padma Shri.
Madurai-born, IIT-educated Sundar Pichai needs no introduction. He broke the internet after being named the CEO of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google LLC recently. He also got $242 million richer since the time his net worth was elaborated at Rs 3,300 crore in 2019, courtesy of the promotion. What makes Pichai’s journey even more noteworthy is the fact that he began his career at Google as a Management Executive in 2004. He rose to subsequent ranks via his innovative ideas and hard work.
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