Masayoshi Son ‘ashamed’ of focus on profits – SoftBank logs record $23bn loss

https://www.ft.com/content/8d84b488-8f97-4742-ab46-154d3b312a82

by maxFlow • 4 years ago

8 8 4 years ago

maxFlow• 4 years ago

Huge losses at SoftBank’s flagship Vision Funds will force the company to begin “dramatic” cost-cutting after plunging technology valuations and a weak yen drove Masayoshi Son’s embattled conglomerate into a record ¥3.1tn ($23bn) quarterly net loss.
In a press conference that Son himself described as “depressing”, he admitted that his famously aggressive global investment strategy should have been more selective, adding: “I am ashamed of myself for being so elated by big profits in the past.”

metadat2• 4 years ago

I am surprised by and appreciate Son's public humility. Seems quite rare for any billionaire to publicly admit they got greedy and express remorse or regret.

Anyone know what is different about him?

kn0where• 4 years ago

Japanese vs western business culture?

otikik• 4 years ago

His dealer gave him the Bad Stuff instead of the Good Stuff.

rasz• 4 years ago

His other option was breaking into "oops I did it again" song. $75 billion there, $25 billion here, who is counting.

g42gregory• 4 years ago

As I recall he did exactly the same thing during 2000 Internet boom/bust.

superchroma• 4 years ago

According to CNBC, for Vision Fund 1: "More than half of the money comes from contributors like Apple, Qualcomm, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

So I guess I don't feel too bad about the money party not working out.

metadat2• 4 years ago

Un-paywalled: https://archive.ph/PcKBQ

Masayoshi Son ‘ashamed’ of focus on profits – SoftBank logs record $23bn loss

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