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The CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., Masayoshi Son, on Monday condemned the killing of a journalist by Saudi security personnel and said his company should discharge its responsibility towards the citizens of the kingdom whose money is invested in its Vision Fund.
The largest investor in the fund, launched last year with a capital of more than $ 90 billion, allowed His power to make big bets in start-up startups, such as the WeWork Cos shared office space provider and the OYO hotel chain. The worldwide outcry sparked by this murder case has, however, led many observers to view this addiction as a risk to SoftBank's plans to raise additional funds.
"These funds are important for the Saudi people to diversify their economy and no longer depend on oil," Son said on Monday.
"It is true that a horrible incident has occurred, but we have a responsibility to the people of Saudi Arabia and we must badume our responsibility rather than turn their backs on them."
His son presented SoftBank's results, appearing in front of journalists for the first time since Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist critic of The Saudi State was badbadinated at the Saudi Arabian consulate at the beginning of last month
SoftBank recorded a profit of operating of 705.7 billion yen ($ 6.23 billion) between July and September, benefiting from the higher valuation of high-tech bets of the Vision Fund. This compared to 395.6 billion yen a year ago under different accounting standards.
His son said that there was no indication that the Saudi softBank links deter startups from accepting capital, the Internet View Window company reporting an investment of 1 , $ 1 billion from Vision Fund.
Nevertheless, worries about the fallout from Saudi Arabia and the general decline in global technology stocks weighed on SoftBank's actions. They closed Monday at 8,747 yen, down 24% from the September high of 11,500 yen. The operator said the offer could surpbad the record $ 25 billion of shares sold by Chinese group Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in New York in 2014. The stock market transaction will mark SoftBank's transformation of a national operator, who successfully challenged the country's historic duopoly, into one of the world's largest technology investors.
The offer is expected to attract cash-rich Japanese retail investors attracted by the image of SoftBank as a successful technology company and by the prospect With steady returns, it comes as the government advocates a reduced fees.
In this context, NTT Docomo Inc. announced last week a reduction in services. his income for the next fiscal year.
Competition is also expected to intensify as e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. enters the mobile phone market within a year through a merger with telecom company KDDI Corp.
His son dismissed Monday these concerns, saying he wanted to maintain the growth of sales and profits of the mobile unit of SoftBank and pay a high dividend.
Still, despite government pressure, SoftBank Son will increase automation and downsize mobile operations by 40% over the next two to three years, focusing instead on new areas of growth, said Son.
This unit serves as a gateway for many companies in SoftBank's portfolio in Japan, operating joint ventures such as offices shared with WeWork, taxis from Chinese Didi Chuxing and a QR code payment company using the technology of PayTM Indian company.
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