SoftBank names successor to Nikesh Arora

In a release, the group said that Ken Miyauchi, currently president and CEO of SoftBank's Japanese telecommunication operations, will step into both of Arora's positions. Miyauchi will also resume his place on the board, where Arora replaced Miyauchi last year.

Miyauchi joined SoftBank in 1984 and has served in a variety of prominent positions at the company. His posts include the COO position at several of SoftBank's subsidiaries, such as Vodafone and SoftBank Mobile; he has also been a director in Yahoo Japan and Brightstar Global, both owned by SoftBank. He held 1.1 million shares of SoftBank as of March 2016.

Arora announced earlier this week that he would leave SoftBank; he joined the group in 2014 but was already seen as the likely successor of CEO Masayoshi Son, who previously served as president but stepped aside for Arora. Son said that he had decided not to leave SoftBank as planned, and that it was unfair to expect Arora to stay indefinitely until he was ready to step aside.

Arora had been fighting back growing criticism in recent months, particularly accusations of poor judgment in the investments he made as CEO of SoftBank Internet & Media (SIMI). These include a $90 million round for property listing platform Housing.com prior to a decline in the company's value, and the $100 million purchase of online video site DramaFever, whose traffic has since fallen by 50% with SoftBank unable to find a buyer.

SoftBank had earlier called the shareholder allegations "unsubstantiated." The day before Arora announced his departure, a special committee at SoftBank said it had cleared him of the charges.

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