His promotion comes at a pivotal moment for the $893 billion company.
The $893 billion tech giant's business is booming: Revenues are trending upwards, and its stock is hovering around all-time highs. But it also faces unprecedented regulatory scrutiny and employee revolts from within — placing Pichai in a precarious position as he attempts to navigate the company's next chapter.
The company is increasingly in the political firing line. Critics of big tech, notably US presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, are calling for Alphabet and other tech firms to be broken up on antitrust grounds., the US law that helps shield tech firms from liability for objectionable content on their platforms, could produce major hurdles for Google and Alphabet if more serious attempts were made to amend of repeal it.
Google-owned YouTube is also coming under greater and greater pressure. Facebook has borne the brunt of criticism over content moderation issues in recent years, but the focus has since widened to platforms like YouTube, and its ongoing struggle to police itself for objectionable or illegal content while avoiding perceptions of bias could yields years negative media and political scrutiny for the video-sharing service.