Ex-SoftBank COO Nikesh Arora awarded $128 mn to lead Palo Alto networks

Nikesh Arora could become one of the highest-paid U.S. executives after being named to lead Palo Alto Networks Inc., which granted him a pay package worth about $128 million. Arora, 50, is entitled to equity awards worth as much as $126 million when he takes over as chief executive officer on June 6, the Santa Clara, California-based company said Monday in a regulatory filing. 

About half of it will vest only if the firm’s shares more than double, while the rest is tied to his remaining on the job. Arora, who spent two years at SoftBank Group Corp. as founder Masayoshi Son’s No. 2, became Japan’s best-compensated public company executive in 2015. Regulatory filings show that the tech giant dished out 31.5 billion yen ($290 million) in compensation and related expenses during his tenure, a sum that rivals Silicon Valley’s richest pay packages.

Former Google exec Nikesh Arora named CEO of Palo Alto Networks

Former Chief Business Officer at Google, Nikesh Arora has been named the CEO and Chairman of the US-based security firm Palo Alto Networks. After leaving Google in mid-2014, the high-profile executive became president of SoftBank and was heir apparent to its charismatic founder Masayoshi Son. But Arora left two years later amid some controversy, recode.net reported on Friday. Arora has replaced Mark McLaughlin, who will now serve the cybersecurity company as Vice Chairman. Arora said that while he had long wanted to become a CEO, he would be working closely with McLaughlin and also co-founder and CTO Nir Zuk, the report said. "I may not have a background in security, but with my background as an engineer, I can sit down with Zuk to help guide the next generation of products we can offer," recode.net quoted Arora as saying. McLaughlin said that the decade-old Palo Alto Networks now serves 50,000 companies globally and has 5,000 employees.