Sitting in a conference room seven years ago, Masayoshi Son was immediately drawn to the sharp-minded executive across the negotiating table. The billionaire telecoms tycoon needed a new technology partner for Yahoo Japan, the internet search engine in which his SoftBank group owns a big stake. Nikesh Arora was sceptical of the tie-up, but the then Google executive was also intrigued by Mr Son, who told him: “Let’s try!”
7年前，孙正义(Masayoshi Son)坐在一间会议室里，很快就为谈判桌对面那位思维敏锐的高管所吸引。当时这位电信行业的亿万富豪正在为雅虎日本(Yahoo Japan)寻找新的技术合作伙伴，他的软银集团(SoftBank)拥有该互联网搜索引擎的大量股权。时任谷歌(Google)高管的尼克什•阿罗拉(Nikesh Arora)虽对合作提议有所怀疑，但他同样被孙正义激起了兴趣，后者对他说：“咱们试试看！”

Since that first encounter in 2008, the two men have become inseparable. “We’re so close it’s a bit crazy,” Mr Son says. Last year SoftBank poached Mr Arora, Google’s highest-paid executive, with a financial package generous enough to convince him to leave behind annual pay of about $50m at the world’s most powerful internet company.
自从2008年这次初遇之后，两人渐渐变得形影不离。孙正义说：“我们亲近到了有点狂热的地步。”去年软银以丰厚的薪资挖走了阿罗拉，软银开出的福利之慷慨，足以说服这位谷歌收入最高的高管，放弃他在全球最强大的互联网公司大约5000万美元的年薪。
Their business partnership became even more tightly woven on Monday, when the SoftBank founder announced that he had selected his new recruit as the “top candidate” to succeed him. Mr Arora, who as vice-chairman has led the group’s investments, will be promoted to president next month, second only to Mr Son, who stays as chief executive.
软银创始人孙正义已宣布选定这位新成员为接任自己的“头号人选”，二人的商业伙伴关系因此变得更为紧密。阿罗拉目前任软银副董事长，负责投资事务，6月他将晋升集团总裁，职位仅低于孙正义。软银首席执行官仍由孙正义担任。
The switch to SoftBank was a daring move for Mr Arora, who was seen as the fourth most important executive at Google after co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and executive chairman Eric Schmidt. Mr Arora compares Mr Son to the two Google founders, saying he has “one of the most brilliant minds”.
对于阿罗拉而言，跳槽到软银是一个大胆举动，他曾被视作谷歌最重要的高管之一，排名仅次于联合创始人谢尔盖•布林(Sergey Brin)和拉里•佩吉(Larry Page)，以及执行董事长埃里克•施密特(Eric Schmidt)三人。阿罗拉将孙正义与谷歌的两位创始人相提并论，称他拥有“最聪明的大脑之一”。
Still, Google’s market capitalisation $370bn makes it five times more valuable than SoftBank. And running a company as a foreigner is a challenge in a country where long-time company insiders often rise to the top.
话虽如此，谷歌的市值高达3700亿美元，是软银的5倍。而且对于外国人来说，在日本管理一家企业是很大的挑战，因为在该国登上总裁之位的往往是资深的公司内部人士。
For India-born Mr Arora, though, the culture barrier may not be a big factor. At 21, he moved to the US with two suitcases and $100. “The thing I feel most proud of is that I went to business school for two years in a culture I didn’t understand,” he told the Financial Times in 2008. “That to me was a significant achievement because that tells me I can adapt to different environments.”
不过对于印度出生的阿罗拉来说，文化障碍可能不是一个大问题。21岁时，阿罗拉身揣100美元，拎着两个手提箱来到美国。他在2008年对英国《金融时报》表示：“我最引以为豪的事就是，我在一个陌生的文化环境里上了两年商学院。这件事对我来说是一个了不起的成就，因为它让我知道，我能适应不同的环境。”
After receiving his MBA from Northeastern University in Massachusetts, Mr Arora spent the next seven years at Fidelity and Putnam Investments, covering the booming telecoms industry in the 1990s. By the end of the decade he had moved to T-Mobile, where he became chief marketing officer.
在马萨诸塞州的东北大学(Northeastern University)获得MBA学位后，阿罗拉在富达投资(Fidelity Investments)和百能投资(Putnam Investments)一共工作了7年，亲身经历了电信行业在上世纪90年代的蓬勃发展。90年代末，他进入T-Mobile并成为首席营销官。
After joining Google in 2004, he was put in charge of its European operations in London. There he created a single continental unit that reported directly to him, and became highly profitable. However, before moving to California in 2007 to lead Google’s global sales team, he split the European business in two. Part of his motive, two former colleagues say, was to ensure there would be no powerful successor who could challenge his authority from afar.
2004年他加入谷歌，在伦敦主管欧洲业务。他在伦敦创建了独立的欧洲业务板块，直接向他本人汇报，并使其成为了一个高盈利部门。然而，2007年调任美国加州主管谷歌全球销售团队前，他将欧洲业务一分为二。两名前同事说，阿罗拉做出此举的一部分动机是确保不会有强大的继任者挑战身在远方的他的权威。
A deft fighter of internal politics he may be, but one subordinate recalls him as a compassionate boss, who was quick to suggest taking off as much time as he needed when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. “For the big man to say, ‘you decide if you want to work’, that’s not a cold person,” insists the former Google executive. “He was there for us when the chips were down.”
他或许是一个精于企业内斗的高手，但一位下属回忆称，阿罗拉是一名富有同情心的老板。在这名员工的妻子诊断出癌症后，阿罗拉很快就建议他需要请多少假就请多少假。“如果一个大人物说，‘你来决定是否想要工作’，他就不是一个冷血的人，”这名谷歌前高管说，“关键时刻他和我们在一起。”
People who know Mr Arora say he is driven by global ambitions, a trait he shares withMr Son, who already has a 300-year plan to keep SoftBank growing. At times, Mr Arora speaks so fast — “like a machine gun” — that people struggle to follow his thoughts.
了解阿罗拉的人说，阿罗拉怀着一种全球性抱负，孙正义身上也有这种特质，孙正义已为软银的持续发展提出了一个300年的计划。有时候，阿罗拉的语速很快——“像机关枪一样”——让人们难以理解他的想法。
“He’s got one of the best BS detectors I’ve ever seen,” said Paroma Roy Chowdhury, Softbank’s vice-president of public affairs, who previously worked under Mr Arora for six years at Google. “It takes time to earn his trust, once you earn it it’s implicit.”
“他是我迄今见过的人中最会辨别空话假话的人之一，”软银负责公共事务的副总裁帕罗马•罗伊•乔杜里(Paroma Roy Chowdhury)说，在谷歌期间，他在阿罗拉手下工作了6年。“要赢得他的信任需要时间，不过一旦你赢得了他的信任，他就会完全信任你。”
The 57-year-old Mr Son will not be retiring soon. But he will be turning to his anointed successor, who is both tech savvy and 10 years his junior, as SoftBank aims to transform itself into a global powerhouse by boosting internet-related acquisitions. “I had few people I could actively talk to inside my company about my crazy ideas on internet investments,” Mr Son said. “It’s really great to have someone I can trust who will debate with me.”
57岁的孙正义不会在短时间内退休。然而，软银计划通过在互联网相关领域大事收购将自身打造成一个全球巨头，孙正义将会倚重他钦定的这位接班人。阿罗拉不仅精通技术，还比他年轻10岁。“在公司内部，我找不到几个人能够一起积极地讨论我在互联网投资方面的疯狂想法，”孙正义说，“有个值得信任的人与我讨论真是太好了。”
Another person Mr Arora will be debating with is Marcelo Claure, chief executive of Sprint, the lossmaking wireless network that is America’s third-largest, which SoftBank acquired for $22bn in 2013. People close to Mr Arora say he already offers advice on internet-related topics and marketing strategy.
另一个要与阿罗拉讨论的人是Sprint的首席执行官马塞洛•克劳尔(Marcelo Claure)。Sprint是美国第三大无线网络公司，目前面临亏损，软银2013年斥资220亿美元收购了Sprint。接近阿罗拉的人称他已就互联网相关话题和营销策略提供建议。
Friends and colleagues describe Mr Arora as a consummate networker. Last year, he married Ayesha Thapar, a scion of the Thapar family, an Indian business dynasty. The multi-day affair in Puglia in southern Italy was attended by leaders in the American tech and Indian corporate worlds, as well as Hollywood actors Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.
阿罗拉的朋友和同事称阿罗拉非常善于建立人脉。去年，他与印度商界世家撒帕尔家族的阿耶莎•撒帕尔(Ayesha Thapar)结婚。持续多日的婚礼在意大利南部的普利亚(Pulia)举行，参加婚礼的既有美国科技业和印度企业界的领军人物，也有好莱坞明星艾什顿•库彻(Ashton Kutcher)和米拉•库妮丝(Mila Kunis)。
But Ms Roy Chowdhury says that he retains a strong connection to his homeland. “Even when he was at Google, his sense of India never wavered,” she said. “He loves Indian food, he’s a cricket buff, he follows Bollywood.”
但阿罗拉的妻子说，阿罗拉依然牵挂着家乡。“即使他身在谷歌，他对印度的关心也从未减弱，”她说，“他喜欢印度食物，他是板球爱好者，他还看宝莱坞电影。”
One catch to dealing with Mr Son is the crazy hours. People who work closely with him say they need to be ready to pick up his call 24 hours a day.
和孙正义共事的一个困难之处是要忍受疯狂的工作时间。与孙正义密切合作的人说他们需要准备好在一天24小时的任何时间点接到孙正义的电话。
It helps, then, that former colleagues say Mr Arora also has an insatiable work ethic, distracted only by rounds of golf and relentlessly updating cricket scores on his mobile phone. “My wife doesn’t mind [Mr Son] calling me before he goes to sleep and wakes up,” Mr Arora said.
不过阿罗拉的前同事说阿罗拉也是一个不知疲倦的工作狂，只有打高尔夫球和不断更新手机上的板球比分才能让他分心。“我妻子不介意（孙正义）在睡觉前和起床后打电话给我，”阿罗拉说。
The writers are respectively the FT’s Tokyo and technology correspondents
本文作者分别是英国《金融时报》东京记者和科技记者