Nikesh Arora

Nikesh Arora

Indian-American business executive (born 1968)

Nikesh Arora (born February 9, 1968) is an Indian-American billionaire business executive. He is currently the chairman and chief executive officer of the American cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Nikesh Arora (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Feb 9, 1968.1

About

Arora was formerly a senior executive at Google and president of SoftBank Group from October 2014 to June 2016. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth was estimated at $1.5 billion in early 2024.

From Wikipedia’s article on Nikesh Arora, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedIndian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi3
  • Date not recordedThe Air Force School3
  • Date not recordedBanaras Hindu University3
  • Date not recordedNortheastern University3
  • Date not recordedBoston College3

Nikesh Arora was born to a Punjabi family in Ghaziabad. His father is an Indian Air Force officer. Arora went to high school at The Air Force School.

He later went on to graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India, with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering in 1989. He holds a M.S. degree in finance from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University. He has held the CFA designation since 1999.

From Wikipedia’s article on Nikesh Arora (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: scientist.6

Fidelity Investments

Arora began his career at Fidelity Investments in 1992, holding a variety of finance and technology management positions, rising to vice president, finance of Fidelity Technologies.

T-Motion PLC

In 2000, Arora established T-Motion, a subsidiary within Deutsche Telekom. In 2002, T-Motion was integrated into T-Mobile's core services.

Google

Arora joined Google in 2004. He held multiple senior operating leadership roles at Google, as vice president, Europe operations from 2004 to 2007, president Europe, Middle East and Africa from 2007 to 2009, and president, global sales operations and business development from 2009 to 2010.

Arora left Google in 2014, resigning from the post of senior vice president and chief business officer.

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SoftBank Corp.

Arora was president and chief operating officer of SoftBank Corp. from 2014 to 2016 receiving total compensation over $200 million, a Japanese record at the time.

Palo Alto Networks

In June 2018, Arora became the CEO and chairman of Palo Alto Networks.

In 2023, Arora's total compensation from Palo Alto Networks was $151.4 million, up 1,355% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 735-to-1 for the company, as well as making Arora the fourth highest paid CEO in the U.S. that year. For 2024, Arora's total compensation was $58 million.

Other positions

Arora was chief marketing officer and a member of the management board at T-Mobile, Bharti Airtel, Europe and is a trustee at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles, California.

Since 2007, Arora has been a senior advisor to Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm. From 2001 to 2004, he was chief marketing officer of the T-Mobile International Division of Deutsche Telekom AG. He was chief executive officer and founder of T-Motion PLC, which merged with T-Mobile International in 2002.

Arora has also worked for Deutsche Telekom and Putnam Investments.

Arora has been a board member of Sprint Corporation, Colgate-Palmolive and Yahoo! Japan. He was elected to the board of Uber in 2025.

Arora is also a member of The Business Council.

From Wikipedia’s article on Nikesh Arora (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornFeb 9, 1968, Uttar Pradesh7
  • CitizenshipIndia8

Arora has a daughter from his first marriage. His second marriage was to Ayesha Thapar, an Indian industrial heiress, in 2014. They have a son and a daughter.

From Wikipedia’s article on Nikesh Arora (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

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