Nikesh Arora, an Indian-origin CEO, has secured the second spot on The Wall Street Journal’s 2023 list of highest-paid CEOs in the United States, surpassing notable tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai.
As the CEO of Palo Alto Networks, Arora earned a substantial $151.43 million in 2023, significantly more than Zuckerberg’s $24.40 million and Pichai’s $8.8 million. Among Indian-origin executives, 17 made it into the top 500, with Shantanu Narayen of Adobe ranking 11th with a $44.93 million compensation.
Arora trails only Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom, in the list.
Nikesh Arora’s journey began in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where he received his early education at Delhi’s Air Force School, thanks to his father’s service in the Indian Air Force. He graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi in 1989. Following a short stint at Wipro, Arora moved to the United States in 1990 to pursue an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston. He described his initial experience in the US as “overwhelming.”
After facing job search challenges and sending around 400 applications, Arora started at Fidelity Investments in 1992, where he worked in finance and technology management while earning a Master of Science in Finance from Boston University. He eventually became vice president of Fidelity Technologies.
In 1999, Arora felt restless and decided to change direction, leading him to Deutsche Telekom, where he started the mobile data business T-Motion in 2000 and served as chief marketing officer for T-Mobile International.
Arora joined Google in 2004, impressing senior executives with his insight and presence. During his decade at Google, he held key roles such as vice president of Europe operations, president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and finally, senior vice president and chief business officer. By 2012, he was Google’s highest-paid executive, earning a compensation package of about $51 million and collecting stock awards worth at least $200 million by the time he left in 2014.
Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Group recruited Arora in 2014, where he earned a record-breaking $135 million compensation package in his first year as vice chairman and CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media. Although seen as Son’s potential successor, Arora resigned unexpectedly in June 2016 and joined Palo Alto Networks two years later.
As chairman-CEO of Palo Alto Networks, Arora’s hefty pay is justified by the company citing his strong performance. The company emphasized that significant equity awards were necessary to retain him, given his considerable vested ownership. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Arora’s net worth was $1.5 billion as of January.
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