Nikesh Arora, the CEO of Palo Alto Networks, ranked second in The Wall Street Journal’s 2023 list of highest-paid US chief executives with a salary of $151.43 million (Rs. 1260 crores approx).
Born on February 9, 1968, in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Arora’s father served in the Indian Air Force. He studied at The Air Force School before graduating in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi.
Arora’s career started at Fidelity Investments in 1992. In 2004, Arora joined Google, where he worked in various senior roles, including Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer.
He left Google in 2014 to join SoftBank in Japan, where he became Vice Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media Inc., earning a record-breaking compensation.
After leaving SoftBank in 2016, he became CEO and Chairman of Palo Alto Networks in 2018.
In 2015, Arora was honored with the Global Indian Award at the ET Corporate Excellence Awards.
Notably, Arora’s earnings surpassed those of tech giants like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, who earned $24.40 million and $8.80 million, respectively.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that 17 Indian-descent CEOs are among the top 500 highest-paid in the US.
