Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud, hails from a background rooted in engineering. His father, a chemical engineer, played a significant role in shaping his path. Thomas Kurian completed his schooling at St. Joseph’s Boys High School in Bengaluru.
Thomas Kurian, born in Kerala in 1966 to PC Kurian and Molly, has emerged as one of the most accomplished Indian executives globally. Since 2018, he has held the position of CEO at Google Cloud. Notably, he was ranked as the second wealthiest Indian executive worldwide, with a net worth more than double that of his boss, Sundar Pichai. Interestingly, his identical twin brother, George Kurian, has been serving as the CEO of NetApp since 2015.
Thomas Kurian’s father was a chemical engineer, and both father and son attended St. Joseph’s Boys High School in Bengaluru, India. They were both exceptional students and later enrolled at IIT Madras. However, they decided to drop out after securing admissions to Princeton University in the United States. They made the move to the U.S. at the age of 16. Thomas pursued a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and later obtained an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. His professional journey began at McKinsey and Company, where he held his first job.
Thomas Kurian spent a significant six-year period at McKinsey and Company, during which he led consulting teams collaborating directly with CEOs. His expertise extended to various sectors, including Financial Services and Telecommunications. In 1996, he transitioned to Oracle, where he served for an impressive 22 years. As a key figure, he led a global team of 35,000 employees across 32 countries. However, due to differences with Oracle’s co-founder, Larry Ellison, Thomas Kurian resigned from his position in 2018. Shortly thereafter, he joined Google as its CEO.
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Kurian is widely acknowledged for revitalizing Google Cloud through strategic transformations. Recognizing the importance of customer service, he revamped the company’s strategy and placed a greater emphasis on it. To enhance motivation, he implemented salary increases for Google Cloud sales personnel. Additionally, he expanded the workforce by hiring more salespeople, technical specialists, and account managers. Kurian extended the range of cloud services to cater to specific industries. One notable contribution was the introduction of Anthos, a platform enabling companies to efficiently manage their data dispersed across multiple cloud environments.
On his LinkedIn profile, Thomas Kurian expressed his mission to expedite the company’s capacity to drive business transformation.
During his tenure at Oracle, Thomas Kurian played a pivotal role in developing products that generated an impressive annual revenue of 35 billion dollars. Under his leadership, the company’s cloud revenue surpassed 5.5 billion dollars. Additionally, he led a robust sales team consisting of 250 professionals. Notably, his accomplishments positioned him as the wealthiest Indian manager globally.
According to the IIFL Hurun India List of 2022, the net worth of Google CEO Sundar Pichai was estimated at Rs 5,300 crore. In comparison, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen’s net worth was reported to be Rs 3,800 crore.
According to available information, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s net worth in 2022 was reported to be around Rs 6,200 crore.
Thomas Kurian’s net worth was a staggering Rs 12,100 crore, placing him among the top Indian executives. He held an impressive financial standing, second only to Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks.
