NIKESH ARORA, the heir apparent at SoftBank Group Corp., will step down from the Japanese company as president in a surprise departure after founder Masayoshi Son made clear he wouldn’t get the top executive role in the near future.

    The former Google executive had come under fire from some investors over his qualifications for the job. But Son said those criticisms played no part in the departure. Rather, the 58-year-old founder said that he wants to remain at the helm of the company for a few more years, while Arora aspired to be chief executive officer more quickly. Arora, 48, will remain an adviser to SoftBank.

    Son, who had called Arora his likely successor earlier this year, decided he wants to maintain control of the company he built from a computer software distributor into one of Japan’s largest telecommunications and investment holding corporations. Still, the abrupt departure left analysts questioning the motivation behind the events.

    “You can’t really sprinkle any sugar on this one. This shows disunity,” said Amir Anvarzadeh, manager of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc. “Given how much Son was putting the responsibility of running the business into his hands, to have him not there, I don’t think anyone would say the share price will start going up.”

    In a briefing in Tokyo, Son praised Arora and credited him with playing a pivotal role in Tuesday’s deal to sell a majority stake in Supercell Oy that valued the Clash of Clans developer at US$10.2 billion. But Son said he isn’t ready to let go.

    “I’ll be forever young, that’s what I want to keep thinking. I want to keep going until I lose confidence in my physical strength. And I’ll want to keep holding on to the rudder more and more as the day of retirement approaches,” Son said, as a smiling Arora looked on. “I feel really terrible for having inconvenienced Nikesh, but it would not be good to go out while holding my feelings back.”

    Son recruited Arora from Google and made him one of the highest-paid executives in the world. He was paid 8.04 billion yen (US$76.7 million) in the last fiscal year, after receiving compensation of 16.6 billion yen the previous year.

    Arora’s exit may deal a blow to SoftBank’s global aspirations. He was hired in 2014 after a decade at the U.S. search giant and promoted to president in June of last year. He’s since built his own operation within SoftBank, an investment arm that will take stakes in technology companies around the world. (SD-Agencies)