Nikesh Arora leaves Google to join Japan’s SoftBank

Google Inc's chief business officer and the company's main liaison with Wall Street, Nikesh Arora, is leaving the search giant to join Japanese telecom firm SoftBank Corp, as vice chairman.

India-born Arora, who joined Google nearly a decade ago, is the latest high-ranking executive to leaave the internet search giant.

Omid Kordestani, who leads sales teams at Google, will take over as business head in the interim before Google rejigs its top rung.

Arora who holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a graduate degree in electrical engineering from the Institute of Technology in Varanasi, has been one of chief executive Larry Page's key lieutenants.

Arora is moving to Japan's SoftBank Corp as vice chairman, Google CEO Larry Page stated in a post on his social network site.

''After almost ten years, Nikesh Arora, our chief business officer, has decided to leave Google to join one of our partners, SoftBank, as vice chairman of SoftBank Corp and CEO of SoftBank internet and media.

''I remember first meeting him at the British Museum, which for some reason Sergey (Google co-founder Sergey Brin) had decided would be a good interview location. Mr Nikesh has been a tremendous leader, adviser and mentor to many Googlers - including me. We have learned a lot together, and had a lot of fun along the way,'' Page said in his post.

A number of technocrats have left Google in the past year, including Android operating software boss Andy Rubin, and Salar Kamangar, head of the YouTube video website.

Kamangar was succeeded in February by insider Susan Wojcicki, the sister of Google co-founder Sergey Brin's wife, Anne Wojcicki, the  co-founder and CEO of genomics firm 23andMe.

In April, Vic Gundotra, an alumnus of IIT Madras and head of its social networking services, said he was exiting (See: Google+ creator Vic Gundotra exits after 8-year stint).

''This is a group of people who built social at Google against the scepticism of so many. I have been incredibly fortunate to work with the amazing people of Google. I don't believe there is a more talented and passionate collection of people anywhere else,'' Page wrote in a blog post.

Earlier, Google had announced a $3.5 million bonus for Arora, the highest amount paid to a top executive at the company for performance in FY'13.

On Thursday, Google reported results that beat investors' expectations with revenues in the three months ended June 30 rising to $15.96 billion from $13.11 billion in the year-ago period.

The world's No.1 Internet search company said the number of "paid clicks" by consumers on its ads increased 25 per cent year-on-year in the quarter, although the average price of the ads declined 6 per cent.

Google earned $3.42 billion or $4.99 per share in the second quarter, against $3.23 billion or $4.77 per share a year earlier. Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $6.08 a share.