Google's Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora Quits to Join SoftBank as Vice Chairman

Google's long-time employee and chief business officer, Nikesh Arora, is leaving the search provider to join Japanese tech major SoftBank as vice chairman.

"After almost ten years, Nikesh Arora our Chief Business Officer, has decided to leave Google to join one of our partners, SoftBank, as Vice Chairman of SoftBank Corp and CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media," CEO Larry Page posted on his Google+ page.

"Nikesh has been a tremendous leader, adviser and mentor to many Googlers — including me. We have learned a lot together, and had a lot of fun along the way."

Omid Kordestani, who has led sales teams at Google since 1999 when the company had little business, will replace Arora in the interim.

"He personifies the entrepreneurial spirit that is so important to Google. There is nothing Omid doesn't know about Google, our customers and partners, and I know that under his leadership the team will excel," Page added.

Arora has played a leading role in expanding Google's advertising markets beyond its traditional search ads. Under his leadership, Google forayed into display ads, primarily on its video streaming website YouTube.

Arora joined Google nearly a decade ago and was in charge of its European operations from 2004 to 2007. He was handed the responsibility for Middle East and Africa operations later. In 2009, he took over global sales and became senior vice president and chief business officer in 2011.

He was reportedly Google's highest-paid executive.

Despite its significant growth over the years, Google has recently faced a number of changes in its senior leadership.

Android OS chief Andy Rubin resigned in 2013, and YouTube's head Salar Kamangar was replaced by long-time Google ad executive Susan Wojcicki in February.

Vic Gundotra, head of social networking services, announced his exit from the company in April.

The internet giant earlier reported impressive results for the quarter ended in June.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $15.96bn (€11.8bn, £9.3bn), up from $13.11bn in the year-ago period. Profit increased to $3.42bn in the second quarter from $3.23bn a year earlier.