TOKYO: SoftBank Group Corp President Nikesh Arora said he is buying about 60 billion yen ($483 million) worth of the company's shares over the next six months, calling it a show of "commitment" to his employer.
"I have decided to take a personal bet on the SoftBank Group and ensure an alignment of vision with our founder, Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son," Arora said in a press release from SoftBank.
Arora plans to buy the shares in the open market. At the closing price of 7,477 yen on Wednesday in Tokyo his cash would buy just over 8 million shares, for a 0.69 percent stake in SoftBank, making him the second biggest individual investor after Son, who welcomed the investment from his anointed successor.
"I expect him to succeed me at the appropriate time," Son said in the press release.
Arora became the president and chief operating officer at SoftBank in May as the Japanese company looked to step up its overseas expansion and battled to make its $20 billion 2013 acquisition of US carrier Sprint Corp profitable amid intense competition with larger US rivals AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc.
The one-time highest paid Google Inc executive joined SoftBank in July last year and has overseen a string of investments into Indian technology start-ups Snapdeal, Ola Cabs and Housing.com in a bid to tap India's potentially huge but under-developed online retail market.
In an interview with Reuters in May he said he has three criteria for making investments; the market size, quality of the team, and the right business model.
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