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SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son says the company will be in charge of the Saudi Arabian royal family – the largest LP in its $ 100 billion Vision Fund – goal the firm will wait on the outcome of an investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi before deciding on whether to continue the relationship.
In his first public remarks following the death march of Khashoggi, he was told by the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, "His told the audience at SoftBank investor day that there is no immediate strategy for a follow-up to the $ 100 billion. Vision Fund.
"We still have money in the Vision Fund 1, in addition, the [SoftBank Mobile] IPO is underway so we can collect money so we can do that effectively for now, "he said. "I think it is still too early to go ahead with Vision Fund 2, but we want to change the strategy, we want to continue expanding better."
That is in line with previous comments from SoftBank playing down an imminent second fund – its COO Marcelo Claure has said it is "no certainty" of a follow – up with Saudi money.
Virgin CEO Richard Branson is very much involved with the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which was in discussion with his Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit Ventures.
While he was doing this, he said today that he believes that it has already collected from PIF.
"Before this tragic case happened, we had already accepted a responsibility to the people of Saudi Arabia. What we have already accepted, we would like to fulfill our fiduciary duties,
"For new projects, we would like to carefully watch the outcome of the case and then we will be able to think about it once again," said Said.
The SoftBank supremo has traveled to the Middle East to meet Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Government officials, and he said, "The prince, he said, is" taking this very seriously. "
PIF's role in Vision Fund – it is the largest single investor – has threatened to taint its efforts, with chatter in Silicon Valley suggesting that many companies would prefer to take money from less-tainted sources. However, SoftBank has struck two deals in the past week – putting $ 375 million into the robotic food-prep startup. Zume and $ 1.1 billion into the glass maker View – which suggests that the sheer size of the checks on offer outweighing any concerns on the origins of its money .
When asked about negative blowback, he said he had not heard of any cases of startups refusing an investment from the Vision Fund, but he did concede that there may be some impact in the future.
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