Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, overcame 400 job rejections early in his career before achieving remarkable success. Born in Ghaziabad, India, to an Indian Air Force officer, Arora grew up in a disciplined household, frequently relocating due to his father’s service. He graduated with a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT-BHU in 1989, later earning an M.S. in Finance from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University. He also holds a CFA designation.
After facing numerous rejections post-graduation, Arora secured a role at Fidelity Investments in 1992, where he held various finance and technology management positions. In 2004, he joined Google, playing a pivotal role in growing its revenue from $2 billion to over $60 billion over a decade. He became Google’s highest-paid executive in 2012, earning $51 million, and amassed stock awards worth at least $200 million by 2014. Seeking new challenges, he moved to SoftBank as President and COO, where he earned a record-breaking $135 million in his first year, making him the world’s highest-paid executive at the time. After a brief sabbatical, he joined Palo Alto Networks in 2018 as CEO and Chairman, when the company was valued at $18 billion.
Under Arora’s leadership, Palo Alto Networks transformed into a global cybersecurity leader, with its valuation soaring to over $100 billion (reported as $130 billion in some sources). His focus on cloud security, AI, and strategic acquisitions (14 under his tenure) drove this growth. Arora’s 2023 compensation reached $151.43 million, making him the second-highest-paid CEO in the US, with a net worth of $1.5 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He credits his resilience to lessons from scarcity and keeps his rejection letters as a reminder to persevere.