Japan's Richest Man Quits SoftBank Board After Clashes With Masayoshi Son
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Published 4 years ago
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by Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/27/2019
After the year SoftBank just had, this is probably the last thing its shareholders want to see.
One of SoftBank's last two remaining non-executive directors is stepping down from its board after 18 years, removing perhaps the company's biggest internal skeptic, according to a Reuters report.
Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and a longtime Masa advisor, said he's leaving SoftBank to focus more on expanding his own business into new markets, including Italy, India and Vietnam. With a net worth of $25 billion (according to Forbes), Yanai is the wealthiest person in Japan. But at SoftBank, he was known as a close ally and sometimes critic of Masayoshi Son credited with attempting to rein in some of Masa's more reckless tendencies.
But whatever his reasons for leaving, the fact remains that Yanai's departure comes at a time when his more conservative outlook is badly needed.
In one of his most famous quotes, Yanai said "Dreams are all good, but nothing beats realistic management. Let’s keep our feet firmly on the ground."
Unfortunately, the word "Realistic" was never a big part of Masayoshi Son's vocabulary. As his reputation as one of the world's greatest momentum investors grew, Son pushed his firm toward ever-larger bets on Silicon Valley startups, leaving firms like Uber and WeWork with outrageous valuations that many analysts found difficult to justify.
After WeWork scrapped its planned IPO, SoftBank was forced to swoop in with a rescue package to stave off an imminent WeWork bankruptcy filing.
Fri, 12/27/2019
After the year SoftBank just had, this is probably the last thing its shareholders want to see.
One of SoftBank's last two remaining non-executive directors is stepping down from its board after 18 years, removing perhaps the company's biggest internal skeptic, according to a Reuters report.
Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and a longtime Masa advisor, said he's leaving SoftBank to focus more on expanding his own business into new markets, including Italy, India and Vietnam. With a net worth of $25 billion (according to Forbes), Yanai is the wealthiest person in Japan. But at SoftBank, he was known as a close ally and sometimes critic of Masayoshi Son credited with attempting to rein in some of Masa's more reckless tendencies.
But whatever his reasons for leaving, the fact remains that Yanai's departure comes at a time when his more conservative outlook is badly needed.
In one of his most famous quotes, Yanai said "Dreams are all good, but nothing beats realistic management. Let’s keep our feet firmly on the ground."
Unfortunately, the word "Realistic" was never a big part of Masayoshi Son's vocabulary. As his reputation as one of the world's greatest momentum investors grew, Son pushed his firm toward ever-larger bets on Silicon Valley startups, leaving firms like Uber and WeWork with outrageous valuations that many analysts found difficult to justify.
After WeWork scrapped its planned IPO, SoftBank was forced to swoop in with a rescue package to stave off an imminent WeWork bankruptcy filing.
Keywords
current eventspoliticscorruptionoccultlifefinancecuriousprovocativejapans richest man quits softbank boardweworksoftbankwework bankruptcy
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