 "Nikesh Arora gets clean chit in probe for foul play in Oyo, Housing investments")
Nikesh Arora, president and chief operating officer of SoftBank, has been given a clean chit in a probe into alleged foul play in the firm's investments in Indian start-ups Oyo Rooms and Housing.com.
Masayoshi Son, billionaire chief executive officer of Softbank, who had come out in support of Arora when a group of investors asked the board to investigate and possibly dismiss the latter, reiterated his trust in the India-born executive.
“As I said when these allegations first became public, I have complete trust in Nikesh and I am pleased the special committee has looked into these claims thoroughly and concluded they are without merit,” Son said.
“The allegations had been raised in a number of letters from a law firm, which claimed to represent the interests of certain unidentified SBG and Sprint Corporation shareholders,” read a statement from SoftBank.
The letter said Arora had a clear conflict of interest and suggested that he might have been involved in wrongdoing. Arora's decision to sink the bank's money into Indian the start-ups was also questioned in the letter.
“Despite these issues, the board saw fit to make Arora the third-highest paid executive in the world without any track record of accomplishment at the company,” wrote Matthew Schwartz, partner at New York law firm Boies Schiller & Flexner, which was representing the undisclosed group of SoftBank investors.
Masayoshi Son, billionaire chief executive officer of Softbank, who had come out in support of Arora when a group of investors asked the board to investigate and possibly dismiss the latter, reiterated his trust in the India-born executive.
“As I said when these allegations first became public, I have complete trust in Nikesh and I am pleased the special committee has looked into these claims thoroughly and concluded they are without merit,” Son said.
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A special committee, constituting independent members of the SoftBank Group board of directors, said it found no merit in claims concerning Arora’s conduct. The committee was set up in February after a group of SoftBank investors submitted a 11-page letter against Arora.
“The allegations had been raised in a number of letters from a law firm, which claimed to represent the interests of certain unidentified SBG and Sprint Corporation shareholders,” read a statement from SoftBank.
The letter said Arora had a clear conflict of interest and suggested that he might have been involved in wrongdoing. Arora's decision to sink the bank's money into Indian the start-ups was also questioned in the letter.
“Despite these issues, the board saw fit to make Arora the third-highest paid executive in the world without any track record of accomplishment at the company,” wrote Matthew Schwartz, partner at New York law firm Boies Schiller & Flexner, which was representing the undisclosed group of SoftBank investors.