SoftBank president Arora quits after founder Son decides to stay in charge

Tokyo

NIKESH Arora, president and chief operating officer of SoftBank Group Corp and touted as its heir apparent, will step down from the Japanese company in a surprise departure after founder Masayoshi Son made clear he wouldn't get the top executive role in the near future.

The former Google executive and one of the highest-paid company officials in the world will remain as an adviser. Chairman Son plans to keep leading the company while Mr Arora wanted to take charge in a few years time, with the different timelines leading to Tuesday's resignation, the company said.

Mr Son, who had dubbed Mr Arora his likely successor, wanted to maintain control of a company he built from a computer software distributor into one of Japan's largest telecommunications and investment holding corporations. He said Mr Arora's departure had nothing to do with shareholder criticism of his track record and qualifications, which SoftBank this week said was unfounded.

"You can't really sprinkle any su-gar on this one. This shows disunity," said Amir Anvarzadeh, manager of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc. "Given how much Son was putting the responsibility of running the business into his hands, to have him not there, I don't think anyone would say the share price will start going up."

Mr Arora's exit may deal a blow to SoftBank's global aspirations. He was hired in 2014 after a decade at Google and promoted to president in June of last year. He has since built his own operation within SoftBank, an investment arm that will take stakes in technology companies around the world.

"I'll be forever young, that's what I want to keep thinking. I want to keep going until I lose confidence in my physical strength. And I'll want to keep holding on to the rudder more and more as the day of retirement approaches," Mr Son said as a smiling Mr Arora looked on. "I feel really terrible for having inconvenienced Ni-kesh, but it would not be good to go out while holding my feelings back."

Though SoftBank put money into startups for decades, including a tumultuous foray during the dotcom bust, the effort had dwindled in recent years to what Mr Son called a "hobby" next to his wireless and broadband businesses. Mr Arora revived the venture push and infused it with more ambition.

Mr Arora led a search for the next Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the Chinese e-commerce leader that pulled off the world's largest initial public offering in 2014. SoftBank is the biggest shareholder in Alibaba.

Mr Arora spearheaded investments in Indian e-commerce provider Snapdeal.com, ride-hailing service Ola Cabs, real estate website Housing.com and hotel-booking app Oyo Rooms. In October, SoftBank led a US$1 billion fundraising round for US-based online lender Social Finance Inc.

But SoftBank's shares have languished, beaten back in part by its ill-advised investment in loss-making Sprint Corp. An investor group had called on the board this year to investigate and possibly dismiss Mr Arora in a sharply critical, 11-page letter. They asked whether Mr Arora harboured conflicts of interest at SoftBank because of his role as a senior adviser to private equity firm Silver Lake.

A separate letter to the board of Sprint, which SoftBank controls, asked for his removal as a director there for similar reasons. A special committee convened to look into the accusations found their claims without merit, SoftBank announced on Monday.

It's unclear where Mr Arora is heading. The executive is leaving just as SoftBank agreed to sell Supercell, one of Mr Son's most profitable deals as well as one of the quickest to bear fruit. BLOOMBERG

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