SoftBank President & CEO Nikesh Arora steps down

The Dollar Business Bureau

A prolonged dream that we will have an Indian jockey for the finest Japanese horse, Softbank, remains a dream as Nikesh Arora, the 48-year-old President and Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of the telecom giant, decided to step down from the company effective June 22.

SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said he had hoped to hand over the position to Arora, but since he was working on cementing SoftBank 2.0, which will take another five to ten years, he didn’t want to keep Nikesh waiting.

“This is not a time frame for me to keep Nikesh waiting for the top job,” Son said.

“All good. Masa wanted to be CEO for longer, I did as promised, time to move on,” Arora said in a tweet.

Arora said he will continue to work as an advisor to SoftBank from July 1. “This will allow me to think about my next move,” Arora said.

Arora was accused of making bad deals, making too much money for himself and having conflicts of interest in his role as an advisor to a private equity firm. He has invested nearly $4 billion in startups globally, hunting for technology capable of driving SoftBank’s future growth.  

He announced his resignation a day after SoftBank declared a special committee investigating allegations made by one group of investors to ascertain that the group’s claims were “without merit.”

“Masa to continue to be CEO for 5-10 years, respect that. Learnt a lot. Clean chit from board after thorough review. Time for me to move on,” Arora said in a tweet.

Arora received a package of about $73 million (Rs.500 crore) during financial year 2015-16, making him one of the highest-paid executives around the world.