[Request] - SoftBank (9984.T) [Japanese]

Another one of Softbankā€™s investments

:woman_facepalming:

And since it opened its doors in 2015, the unicorn has grown rapidly through a series of acquisitions, reaching a staff of 8,000 globally and doubling down on cutting-edge forms of construction, including prefabrication and buildings made of engineered wood.

The companyā€™s meteoric rise, however, hasnā€™t been without growing pains.

In its four years, Katerra, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, has already had three CEOs and is now on its third chief financial officer. And according to a story late last month on the news site the Information, the company has pulled out of ā€œat least half a dozen apartment and hotel projects in the U.S.ā€

Thereā€™s obviously Boston Dynamics too now wholly owned by Softbank":

SoftBank appear to think itā€™s possible to 10x their money while thrown $bnā€™s around. Seems unlikely to me

SoftBank is becoming uncool as a VC. Just comes across reckless.

The company, run by eccentric Japanese-Korean billionaire Masayoshi Son, has spent billions on stakes in high-risk, loss-making technology firms such as Uber.

Not to forget WeWork of course.

UK companies it invested in:

It bought British iPhone chip designer Arm Holdings in 2016 for Ā£24 billion and has since amassed stakes in London-based supply chain finance firm Greensill, video gaming firm Improbable, small business bank Oaknorth, and satellite company OneWeb.

Major layoffs at Softbank funded companies:

Also, Softbank started ghosting startups:

SoftBankā€™s reasons for its reversals are unclear.

  • Some sources believe a driving factor is SoftBankā€™s struggle to raise Vision Fund 2. In short, outside money still hasnā€™t materialized.
  • Vision Fund 2 so far has done five deals, although that all appears to be via SoftBank Groupā€™s $38 billion commitment to the fund.
  • They also think the WeWork debacle played a role, creating a sort of shell shock in Tokyo.

Things are going from bad to worse at SoftBank. Since January 2019, Vision Fund firms have laid off over 10,700 employees ā€” more than 2x the workforce of Twitter.

From the main man Prof. Galloway

1 Like

Cheap but controversial Japanese internet and tech stock

There is a request already here: SoftBank (9984.T)

Thought this was a very interesting read:

7 Likes

Softbank just invested $440 million in challenger OakNorth which provides funding for businesses. Iā€™m a fan of OakNorth but seeing them put that much money into a relatively obscure company & as part of a round that only included one other investor blew my mind slightly.

Meanwhile hereā€™s the FTā€™s Lex teamā€™s comments on SoftBankā€™s latest share buyback -

Record buyback may be an attempt to appease investors for increased risks

4 Likes

Any idea if its possible to add Softbank in the near future?

https://community.freetrade.io/t/softbank-9984/2874

3 Likes

We donā€™t have a timescale for this right now Iā€™m afraid, keep an eye on the blog & this post for updates.

Itā€™s worth mentioning that weā€™ve added Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) to the app now -

Another does-what-it-says-on-the-tin trust. This trust, managed by the same firm behind Scottish Mortgage Trust, invest in a variety of enterprises in Japan, currently including Softbank, Rakuten and Sony.

quote from this blog post

2 Likes

Not perfect, but a 5% holding and theyā€™re leveraged 11-17% which is good! Thanks Alex :slight_smile:

1 Like

$130,000,000! Arghhh! :sob:

3 Likes

Imagine the return if it had paid off!!

I think thatā€™s what got them in trouble in the first place :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Iā€™ll admit to not having analysed every detail of this, but the SoftBank earnings presentation is now online. :popcorn:

https://cdn.group.softbank/en/corp/set/data/irinfo/presentations/results/pdf/2019/softbank_presentation_2019_003.pdf

1 Like

I was thinking about Softbank this afternoon after reading a Boston Dynamics article. I would be interested in peoples view for the long term with Softbank, maybe with a new ceo or some change

1 Like