Sundar Pichai Is Bidding for a Cricket Team in England’s The Hundred

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai is bidding for a London-based team in the 10-over cricket league based in England and Wales—The Hundred, according to Bloomberg. Pichai is joined by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, Shantany Narayan, CEO of Adobe, Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, and Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman of Times Internet, among others. 

The consortium is reportedly bidding for more than $97 million for either the Oval Invincibles or London Spirit teams. The latter team’s home group is the Lord’s in London, often touted as the ‘home of cricket’. 

The England Cricket Board (ECB) and Wales Cricket Board opened their doors to private investments to boost the league's finances. The ECB has also set a target to raise at least $350 million through sales. The board also revealed that The Hundred generates a yearly revenue of £60 million from broadcast, ticket sales, and sponsorships. 

Pichai’s reported move isn’t surprising. He’s been a fan of the game and has expressed it on social media several times. A few years ago, Pichai also revealed that he wanted to become a cricketer as a child. He captained his school’s cricket team in Chennai, where he won many tournaments.

That said, this is one of the many instances where notable names in the tech industry marked their foray into sports. Prominent entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks, the basketball team that plays in the NBA, for $285 million way back in 2000. 

Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and co-founder of Social Capital, is a minority stakeholder and a board member of the Golden State Warriors, who also play in the NBA. 

Furthermore, Steve Chen, one of YouTube's founders, invested in 100x Sports, a sports agency that launched in December 2024.