Nikesh Arora, CEO and chairman of Palo Alto Networks Inc., boasting a net worth of $1.5 billion, recently made an entry into the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Education and Early Life
Born on February 9, 1968, in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Arora, an Indian-American business executive, investor, and entrepreneur, completed his schooling at The Air Force School. He pursued Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi, followed by a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Northeastern University and a Master of Science (MS) in Finance from Boston College.
Professional Journey
Kicking off his career in 1992 at Fidelity Investments, Arora held various roles in technology management and finance. In 2000, post his tenure as vice president at Fidelity Investments, he founded T-Motion, later absorbed into T-Mobile, where he assumed the role of chief marketing officer.
Transitioning to Google in 2004, Arora spent a decade climbing the ranks, serving as president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, senior vice president, and chief business officer. By 2012, he emerged as Google’s highest-paid executive, commanding a compensation package valued at approximately $51 million.
Arora’s forward-thinking was evident in 2009 when he purportedly advocated for Google to acquire Netflix, a recommendation that, if heeded, might have impacted Netflix’s current $27 billion market cap.
Post-Google, Arora took the helm as president of Japan-based SoftBank Group Corp. During his tenure, he orchestrated a $250 million deal and oversaw global business operations, including investments in Indian firms like Snapdeal, Ola, Grofers, and Housing.com.
Joining Palo Alto Networks in June 2018 as CEO and chairman, Arora was granted $125 million in stocks. As the company’s shares surged amidst the cyber software boom and high-profile hacking incidents, his net worth skyrocketed to $1.5 billion.
