Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora becomes a rare non-founder billionaire

San Francisco, Jan 3 (IANS) Nikesh Arora, a SoftBank veteran and now the CEO of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, has entered the billionaires’ club after a hefty paycheck he received from the firm.

He had received a $125 million stock and options compensation package from Palo Alto when he was hired in 2018.

Since then, the company’s share price has more than quadrupled and Arora’s stake is now worth $830 million ($1.1 billion Singapore dollars), reports Bloomberg.

At Google, his compensation package was about $51 million in 2012 and he received stock awards worth at least $200 million by the time he left.

He joined SoftBank Group in 2014 and amassed a $135 million first-year compensation package.

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

If we combine the pay awards Arora received in his career, his net worth stands at $1.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“That makes him a rare non-founder billionaire tech chief executive,” the report noted.

On June 1, 2018, Arora took on the role of CEO and chairman at Palo Alto Networks.

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

Photo courtesy of X Palo Alto Network