Couple to split time between San Francisco, New Delhi.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Wedding bells are ringing in Silicon Valley for what is sure to become one of the biggest power couples in the Indo-US business community: Google Senior Vice-President and Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora and Thapar family scion Ayesha Thapar.
Arora and Thapar are set to tie the knot at the end of the month, in a lavish ceremony that will take place in Borgo Egnazia, one of Italy’s most scenic resort destinations. Festivities are set to begin on June 30, and will go on for the ensuing several days in typical Indian shaadi fashion – full of color, music, dancing, and a gathering of a veritable “who’s who” of Silicon Valley tech gurus, CEOs, and even political figures.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the co-founders of Google, are among the luminaries expected to be present at the festivities, along with Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, reports Page Six. Additionally, a slew of world leaders and international business honchos – who are unnamed in the report – are expected to show up as well, mainly because Arora interacts with them frequently for business and hopes to maintain good ties with such powerful people.
Thapar belongs to the Thapar dynasty of India, which runs the Thapar Group, one of the biggest conglomerates in India. Ayesha Thapar is a businesswoman in her own right, and has been considered arguably India’s most eligible female bachelorette – until now, that is.
She and Arora are said to be splitting their time between San Francisco and New Delhi, and will continue to do so after their wedding. Arora, in particular, will use his time in India to help expand Google’s already-growing presence into India and South Asia as a whole, while Thapar will do the same thing for her interest state-side. It also makes sense that the couple is getting married in Italy, which lies pretty much halfway between the US and India.
Arora has been in the news for more reasons than just his pending nuptials, however. On Monday, he sold 6,466 of his shares of Google stock, each valued at around $555, netting him nearly $3.6 million. That leaves him with less than 1,500 shares of Google stock, which are worth a total of just over $813,000, according to filings disclosed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It’s not known why Arora decided to unload so many of his shares, but the sale is not considered nefarious in any way.
Originally from India, Arora earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) BHU Varanasi before coming to the US, where he earned an additional degree from Boston College and his M.B.A. from Northeastern University. He has held high-level positions at T-Mobile and Bharti Airtel Europe, and has also worked for Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments, and Deutche Telekom.
During his time with Google, he has been a major part of some of company’s biggest technology roll-outs. Most recently, he has been keenly involved with the development and release strategy for Google Glass, the controversial eyewear computer that has a camera and all sorts of other nifty gadgets. The device is expected to become widely available to consumers later this year or in early 2015.