TOKYO — A SoftBank Group Corp. director told the Japanese giant’s shareholders that its breakneck investment pace worries him, highlighting tensions over Chief Executive Masayoshi Son’s penchant for big bets in loss-making startups.
“Please don’t think you can rest easy,” Tadashi Yanai, who leads clothing retailer Uniqlo and serves as an outside director on SoftBank’s board, said at the company’s annual meeting.
The Saudi-backed $92 billion SoftBank Vision Fund that Son started last year has invested in some of the world’s most valuable startups, including Uber Technologies Inc. and WeWork Cos. SoftBank 9984, +3.66%[1] also controls Sprint Corp. S, -1.08%[2] in the U.S. At SoftBank’s annual meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday, Son said the group would unlock new value through loose alliances among its disparate investments, comparing it to self-propagating bacteria. “I want to create a group of top-ranked companies,” he said. “This is how we win, how we succeed.”
That statement drew a quick retort from Yanai, a longtime friend of Son’s who has positioned himself as an in-house skeptic of SoftBank’s strategy. “I get so worried when I watch what Mr. Son does. I worry if things will really be all right, just like all of you,” Yanai told shareholders. “Please don’t think you can rest easy after today’s presentation.”
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.[3]
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References
- ^ 9984, +3.66% (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ S, -1.08% (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com. (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Florida officials approve plan to built largest mall in the U.S. (www.wsj.com)
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