Once Google’s highest paid executive, how Nikesh Arora became a billionaire

Arora was also instrumental in SoftBank’s investments in Indian entities like Snapdeal, Ola, Grofers, Housing.com and Oyo Rooms. Ken Miyauchi, head of SoftBank’s Japanese telecommunications operations, replaced Nikesh Arora as president and chief operating officer, who stepped down from the post in 2016.

During his decade-long tenure at Google, Arora oversaw sales, marketing and partnerships, an outsider’s job at a company, where engineering skills are prized above all else. He became one of the most powerful Google executives, and the highest paid in 2012, when he made $51 million in cash and stock.

Arora advocated for Google to acquire online movie company Netflix in 2009, according to a former employee, who was present when Arora pitched the idea to the tech giant’s senior executive team. At the time, Netflix had a market cap of roughly $3 billion, compared to its current $27 billion valuation. Arora also proposed at the time that Google should acquire LoveFilm, a UK-based streaming video company that was later acquired by Amazon in 2011, the person said.

Prior to joining Google, Nikesh held the role of chief marketing officer for the T-Mobile International Division of Deutsche Telekom AG. He was the chief executive officer and founder of T-Motion PLC, which merged with T-Mobile International in 2002.

Besides SoftBank Group Corp, he has also served on the boards of Sprint Corp, Colgate-Palmolive Inc and Yahoo! Japan, among others. He holds an MS in Business Administration from Northeastern University, an MS in finance from Boston College and a B. Tech in electrical engineering from the Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University.