Softbank President Nikesh Arora isn’t the most prolific tweeter. Since joining Twitter in 2009, he’s only sent out around 2000 tweets on the platform. But as soon as the news about his resignation as Softbank President went public, Arora went on a bit of a tweeting spree.
In the space of around 30 minutes, Arora sent out approximately 20 tweets clarifying what went down at Softbank. His first tweet confirmed the news.
Masa 2 continue 2 be CEO for 5-10 years, respect that. Learnt a lot. Clean chit from board after through review. Time for me to move on.
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
He then seemed to reply individually to people who’d mentioned him in their tweets – a rarity for someone of his stature.
Thanks Raju. https://t.co/H8ohsHgvCs
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
About? 🙂 https://t.co/NbXVC0Jiu8
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
While the startup community seemed pretty taken aback by the news, Arora seemed to be handling it well, even philosophizing about how life was “about having fun every day”.
:). Life doesn't need to be orderly my friend. It's about having fun everyday. https://t.co/sskfQyYJCf
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
I am not sad. I learnt a lot, sitting with Masa at dinner and chatting about life in the future. https://t.co/6TW1k6d6Nh
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
He clarified that he had no immediate professional plans.
Hmm – if i step down, you can look across instead of up? Just kidding . https://t.co/XStZyrlY4L
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
Thanks Amit. Going to chill for a bit. https://t.co/gtZ1mVpYen
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
And he saw the funny side to it too.
Is that the goal? https://t.co/j3yqCVK868
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
And quashed rumours with elan. This person had asked if he’d want to become the RBI governor.
Lol. Funny guy. https://t.co/LsbgUHmUq8
— Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora) June 21, 2016
But most importantly, he clarified that he’d been given a clean chit by his board over allegations of owning personal shares in the companies that Softbank invested in.
And said that he was still on good terms – very good terms in fact – with Softbank founder Masayoshi Son.