![\"Nikesh](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2024-01\/oub4demg_nikesh-arora-bloomberg_625x300_03_January_24.jpeg\"\/ "\\"Nikesh")
<\/div>\nNikesh Arora sold nearly $300 million worth of shares in 2023<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Nikesh Arora has repeatedly succeeded in winning big paychecks. At Google, he became the firm’s highest-paid executive after getting a compensation package worth about $51 million in 2012, on his way to collecting stock awards worth at least $200 million by the time he left.<\/p>\n
Poached in 2014 by SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son \u2014 and touted as the legendary investor’s likely successor \u2014 he amassed a $135 million first-year compensation package that broke Japanese records and made him the world’s best-paid executive.<\/p>\n
But it’s Nikesh Arora’s latest stint, as chief executive officer of cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks Inc., that’s catapulted the 55-year-old into the billionaire class.<\/p>\n
Nikesh Arora<\/strong><\/p>\n Palo Alto Networks handed Nikesh Arora a $125 million stock and options compensation package when he was hired in 2018. Thanks to a boom in cybersecurity software after a series of high-profile hacking incidents that disrupted casinos, ports and even Treasury markets, the company’s share price has more than quadrupled since then \u2014 and Arora’s stake is now worth $830 million.<\/p>\n Combined with enormous pay awards he secured earlier in his career, Arora’s net worth stands at $1.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That makes him a rare non-founder billionaire tech CEO.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Palo Alto Networks didn’t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n The bulk of Arora’s stake in Palo Alto Networks relates to more than 3.4 million options he was awarded upon joining the firm. Those were subject to meeting share-price targets, all of which have now been achieved including the highest goal: a 300% gain.<\/p>\n Nikesh Arora sold nearly $300 million worth of shares in 2023 after exercising some of the options.<\/p>\n He is primed to continue building his fortune at Palo Alto Networks. Nikesh Arora’s 2023 compensation includes a maximum of 750,000 stock awards that vest upon the achievement of certain performance conditions, which would currently be worth more than $220 million.<\/p>\n In its proxy statement, the company wrote the award was justified because Arora’s strong performance over his first five years meant he’d already been able to vest \u201c$102 million of value each year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of this significant vested ownership and the amount that Mr. Arora was projected to vest in over the next several years, the Board determined that a meaningful equity award would be necessary to ensure that such award retains and engages Mr. Arora.\u201d<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\nStock Awards<\/strong><\/h3>\n