Son says vice chairman Arora a strong future candidate to lead SoftBank

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Monday that Vice Chairman Nikesh Arora was a strong candidate to lead the Japanese telecommunications and Internet conglomerate in the future. "Yes. He's 10 years younger than me, and he has more abilities than me," Son told reporters at an earnings briefing, when asked if Arora was a potential candidate. "The last nine months I've spent with him have made me sure of that, but I'm not going to retire soon," the billionaire founder of SoftBank added. SoftBank hired the former Google Inc executive last July to run a newly created unit called SoftBank Internet and Media, reporting directly to Son. (Reporting by Teppei Kasai; Writing by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)