Indian-origin CEOs Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Ajay Banga, Jayshree Ullal and many others are making their mark in the US and other major countries. Over the years, we have seen a series of Indians leading some of the biggest companies in the world, which says volumes about the consistently rising calibre of the Indian population. One such story is of a man who has landed the second spot on The Wall Street Journal's 2023 list of highest-paid CEOs in the US. Currently one of the most talked about people in the business world is Nikesh Arora, an IIT alumnus and the newest member of the billionaires' club. According to a list published by The Wall Street Journal, Indian-born Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora is the second-highest-paid leader in the United States. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth was estimated at $1.5 billion (Rs 12,570 crore approx) in early 2024.
His father was an officer at the Indian Air Force. He was born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and completed his schooling at the Air Force School in Subrato Park. In 1989, he graduated from IIT Varanasi. Arora pursued an MBA in the US after getting his engineering degree. Arora climbed the corporate ladder at Google in a decade-long career, finally moving out of the company in 2014. In 2014 he left Google and made headlines by leading SoftBank in Japan with a record-breaking compensation package. Since 2018, he's been at cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks.
According to Palo Alto Networks' financial report, Arora has received pay of more than $33.5 million over the past two years. For the fiscal year that ended in July 2021, Nikesh made a total of $23.28 million, or around Rs 173.4 crore based on the average USD-INR conversion rate for that month.
In 2022, Nikesh earned $10.40 million, amounting to Rs 82.7 crore on a similar conversion average for July 2022. Nearly the course of the last two years, Nikesh's compensation has surpassed Rs 256.1 crore, increasing his wealth by nearly Rs 35 lakh every day. With a net worth of Rs 8,500 crore, he is one of the richest CEOs in the world according to the most recent IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022.
