SoftBank successor to buy $483 mn in Japan company's shares

The successor-in-waiting at SoftBank said on Wednesday he would buy a whopping USD 483 million in company shares, after his move to the Japanese mobile carrier from Google. Nikesh Arora, who left a high-profile post at the Internet search giant last year, said he would buy 60 billion yen worth of SoftBank stock over the next six months. Nikesh Arora was named president and chief operating officer in June as a potential successor to chief executive Masayoshi Son, who led the firm's USD 21.6 billion takeover of US mobile giant Sprint in 2013.

I have "decided to take a personal bet on the SoftBank Group", Arora said in a statement. "This is a large transaction for me, and involves taking an enormous risk in my life once again. However, I am extremely confident about the future of the SoftBank Group".

Son said he was "delighted" at the commitment. "I expect him to succeed me at the appropriate time," SoftBank's top executive said. "The last year of working together could not have gone better and it has surpassed every expectation that I had." According to local media, SoftBank paid Arora an eye-popping 5 million in the fiscal year to March, including a one-time signing bonus, that put him among the world's highest-paid executives.