Nikesh Arora (pictured), who left Japan-based internet and telecoms group SoftBank where he spearheaded its corporate venturing strategy as company president and chief operating officer in 2016, has become CEO and chairman of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks.
Arora replaces longtime exec Mark McLaughlin, who will become vice chairman of Palo Alto Networks.
Arora joined SoftBank in late 2014 from Google where he had served as chief business officer, and directed SoftBank, a significant corporate venturing participant, to lean more towards larger investments, notably in his home country of India.
SoftBank has meanwhile made its own moves on succession to its founder and chief executive, Masayoshi Son. It said its new chief strategy officer and executive vice-president will be Katsunori Sago.
SoftBank is also promoting both chief operating officer, Marcelo Claure, and its near-$100bn Softbank Vision Fund head, Rajeev Misra, to executive vice-presidents. Misra was ranked first in the GCV Powerlist 2017.
Sago had spent more than 20 years at investment bank Goldman Sachs before leaving to manage Japan Post Bank’s $1.9 trillion portfolio.
Arora had been handpicked to succeed Son as head of the company in the subsequent two or three years, but Son decided he would stay on for five to 10 years and Arora said on Twitter that development had led to his departure.
However, the Wall Street Journal reports that Arora’s departure could have also been influenced by investor dissatisfaction with the reportedly underwhelming performance of some of SoftBank’s larger recent investments, though Arora has called their complaints groundless.
– Image courtesy of Twitter