New Delhi: Google CEO Sundar Pichai turned 50 today (June 10, 2022). The top boss of the tech giant, who earns crores of rupees every month, comes from a humble background. In 2020, he revealed the challenges he faced when he had to travel to the US to pursue higher studies at Stanford University in the US. Recalling one such incident, he said that his father spent the equivalent of a year's salary on his plane ticket to the US so he could attend Stanford. 


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"My father spent the equivalent of a year's salary on my plane ticket to the US so I could attend Stanford. It was my first time ever on a plane,” he said to students listening to him worldwide on a YouTube stream. 


He also recounted how expensive America was when he came to the country. “A phone call back home was more than $2 a minute, and a backpack cost the same as my dad's monthly salary in India," he recounted.


But his fortune soon reversed. Now, he is one of the highest paid CEOs in the tech industry. According to media reports, he made about $1 billion between 2015 and 2020, which included bonuses and grants. 


During the live stream event, Pichai also told how different his childhood was in comparison to children today who have “computers of all shapes and sizes". He said that he "grew up without much access to technology." Also Read: From love of cricket to his own love story – Here’s Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s simple yet relatable story


"I grew up without much access to technology. We didn't get our first telephone till I was ten. I didn't have regular access to a computer until I came to America for graduate school. And, our television, when we finally got one, only had one channel," Pichai said. Also Read: Sensex falls 736 points, Nifty loses 201 pts as IT, consumer durables stocks slump