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Softbank Paid $135 Million To Nikesh Arora, Highest Among Indian-Origin Executives

Softbank's Nikesh Arora Made $135 Million Last Year, Higher Than Satya Nadella, Indra Nooyi
MUNICH, GERMANY - JANUARY 23: Nikesh Arora , President of Global Sales Operations and Business Development at Google, laughs during the Digital Life Design (DLD) conference at HVB Forum on January 23, 2011 in Munich, Germany. DLD brings together global leaders and creators from the digital world. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)
Miguel Villagran via Getty Images
MUNICH, GERMANY - JANUARY 23: Nikesh Arora , President of Global Sales Operations and Business Development at Google, laughs during the Digital Life Design (DLD) conference at HVB Forum on January 23, 2011 in Munich, Germany. DLD brings together global leaders and creators from the digital world. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated Arora's designation at Softbank.

Japanese telecom carrier Softbank paid a whopping 16.5 billion yen ($135 million) to senior executive Nikesh Arora in the financial year that ended March, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

The amount included a one-time bonus for the India-born Arora, who had given up his high-profile role at Google Inc. to join Softbank as vice-chairman in October 2014. Since then he has managed over $1.67 billion worth of deals, including in Indian startups such as e-commerce firm Snapdeal and taxi-hailing service Ola. Arora has now been named president and chief operating officer at the telco. Last month, he was named a potential successor to chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.

Arora also took the lead in investing $1 billion in Forward Ventures LLC, which launched Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce company.

Such big payments to executives are a rarity in japan. Chairman Masayoshi Son made less - he received 131 million yen in compensation, in addition to 10 billion yen in dividends. In 2014, Carlos Ghosn, president and chairman of Nissan Motor, had been paid 995 million yen.

"In order for us to become a SoftBank that is competitive in the global market place, we had to strengthen our management team," Son told his shareholders. "Fortunately, Nikesh Arora joined the SoftBank group. He is the top candidate to be my successor. He and I will team up to further expand our company."

Arora's compensation is much higher than other India-born CEOs, such as Satya Nadella of Microsoft ($84.31 mln) and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo ($22.41 mln).

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