Nikesh Arora Resignation: Bad News for Google Inc (GOOGL)?

In a surprise move, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), while reporting its second quarter results, announced that its Chief Business Officer, Nikesh Arora, will be leaving the company to join the Japan-based telecommunication and internet company, SoftBank Corp. Bloomberg’s Mike McKee reported on “Street Smart” that the reasons behind Mr. Arora leaving Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are still unclear.

“[…] it’s a good news for SoftBank Corp (TYO: 9984) but it probably means some bad news for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) at least in terms of replacing its key officer,” McKee said.

Mr. Arora had served at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in several important positions during his, almost a decade-long, career, before being promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer in January, 2011. SoftBank Corp (TYO: 9984) in a press release said that Mr. Arora will be joining the company in October as Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Internet and Media. In another press release SoftBank Corp (TYO: 9984) Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said that the company was also planning to nominate Mr. Arora’s to the company’s board at the next shareholders meeting.

After the announcement of his departure was made public, Mr. Arora tweeted: “Thank you Googlers for your support and love in the last 10 years. Will miss all of you. Looking forward to the next adventure.”

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said its business founder Omid Kordestani, who has also led its sales team over the years would be taking Mr. Arora’s position temporarily.

Mr. McKee reported that for the second quarter, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) posted a net profit of $3.42 billion, up from $3.23 billion posted a year earlier. The revenues stood at $16 billion, up by 22% over the year, and beating analysts’ expectations of $15.6 billion.  The net income of the company in second quarter increased by 6% to $4.99 per share. Excluding other costs, the adjusted earnings for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) came at $6.08, lower than analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion.

Talking about the revenue growth of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Mr. McKee added: “One thing that people are watching is, how their revenue is coming in and they did report an increase of 25% in the number of click ads but the revenue fell 6%. So that may have something to do with their issues.”

Disclosure: none