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Yeah, the big question is why would Masayoshi Son bankroll a super overpriced REIT-like company. That dude is not your random retail investor that couldn't see

Yeah, the big question is why would Masayoshi Son bankroll a super overpriced REIT-like company. That dude is not your random retail investor that couldn't see it for what it is.

MegaButts 7y ago
In my opinion, SoftBank is a below average VC firm (I used to work for one of their companies and was actually a fly on the wall for some of the strategic fundraising conversations). They just have way more money than everyone else, which is important. But I'm pretty sure they're going to lose money in aggregate. Don't forget this guy famously lost more money than anyone in history. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/how-sprints-new-boss-lost-70-billion-of-his-own-cash-and-still-stayed-rich/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/how-s...
- KaoruAoiShiho 7y ago
  Can you talk about in general terms what you heard that makes you think SoftBank isn't that good at what they do?
  - MegaButts 7y ago
    The company I worked at was a clusterfuck, to put it mildly. It was going to shut down (this is not public knowledge, and very few of the employees are aware of this) before SoftBank injected a stupid amount of capital into it. I fully understand VC portfolios are about the aggregate, but I do not see how a competent firm could possibly see that as anything other than a waste of money.
- H8crilA 7y ago
  SoftBank is something in between a VC and the public market. Typical startup path: seed funding, a few VC rounds, SoftBank round, IPO.
  - MegaButts 7y ago
    My point is SoftBank is dumb money, and I believe in 10 years they will be a business case on one of the worst money management programs in history.
vikramkr 7y ago
When you have that much cash and are expected to deploy it into venture capital, its almost bgg impossible to not put it into companies like wework. You need hugely overvalued companies. You cant sit in your money because your investors (sovereign wealth funds etc) demand to see their money put to work, and you cant invest in strong seed stage companies because they don't move the needle. It means they almost have less power here since they absolutely deploy capital, and Son does not have the sort of goodwill from partners that someone like Buffet has to sit on a giant pile of cash until good investment opportunities emerge.
- H8crilA 7y ago
  > Son does not have the sort of goodwill from partners that someone like Buffet has to sit on a giant pile of cash until good investment opportunities emerge. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. But yeah, big money doesn't have to be very smart, in principle. Like this pitch, 45 minutes for $45B dollars from the Saudi prince: https://www.economist.com/business/2019/03/23/masayoshi-son-prepares-to-unleash-his-second-100bn-tech-fund https://www.economist.com/business/2019/03/23/masayoshi-son-... This article has another good quote: > The stockmarket, for its part, values SoftBank itself at a steep discount to the sum of its listed constituents (see chart 1), despite a $5.5bn share buy-back in February. Worries that Mr Son is paying over the odds are thought to be a big factor. Take WeWork: when Mr Son slashed his investment to $2bn, SoftBank’s shares leapt by 6%.
  - vikramkr 7y ago
    I definitely think that it is a recipie for disaster. Son already lost the most money if any person ever. He's the most qualified person I can think of to do it again.

Yeah, the big question is why would Masayoshi Son bankroll a super overpriced REIT-like company. That dude is not your random retail investor that couldn't see it for what it is.

MegaButts 7y ago

In my opinion, SoftBank is a below average VC firm (I used to work for one of their companies and was actually a fly on the wall for some of the strategic fundraising conversations). They just have way more money than everyone else, which is important. But I'm pretty sure they're going to lose money in aggregate. Don't forget this guy famously lost more money than anyone in history. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/how-sprints-new-boss-lost-70-billion-of-his-own-cash-and-still-stayed-rich/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/how-s...

KaoruAoiShiho 7y ago
Can you talk about in general terms what you heard that makes you think SoftBank isn't that good at what they do?
- MegaButts 7y ago
  The company I worked at was a clusterfuck, to put it mildly. It was going to shut down (this is not public knowledge, and very few of the employees are aware of this) before SoftBank injected a stupid amount of capital into it. I fully understand VC portfolios are about the aggregate, but I do not see how a competent firm could possibly see that as anything other than a waste of money.
H8crilA 7y ago
SoftBank is something in between a VC and the public market. Typical startup path: seed funding, a few VC rounds, SoftBank round, IPO.
- MegaButts 7y ago
  My point is SoftBank is dumb money, and I believe in 10 years they will be a business case on one of the worst money management programs in history.

vikramkr 7y ago

When you have that much cash and are expected to deploy it into venture capital, its almost bgg impossible to not put it into companies like wework. You need hugely overvalued companies. You cant sit in your money because your investors (sovereign wealth funds etc) demand to see their money put to work, and you cant invest in strong seed stage companies because they don't move the needle. It means they almost have less power here since they absolutely deploy capital, and Son does not have the sort of goodwill from partners that someone like Buffet has to sit on a giant pile of cash until good investment opportunities emerge.

H8crilA 7y ago
> Son does not have the sort of goodwill from partners that someone like Buffet has to sit on a giant pile of cash until good investment opportunities emerge. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. But yeah, big money doesn't have to be very smart, in principle. Like this pitch, 45 minutes for $45B dollars from the Saudi prince: https://www.economist.com/business/2019/03/23/masayoshi-son-prepares-to-unleash-his-second-100bn-tech-fund https://www.economist.com/business/2019/03/23/masayoshi-son-... This article has another good quote: > The stockmarket, for its part, values SoftBank itself at a steep discount to the sum of its listed constituents (see chart 1), despite a $5.5bn share buy-back in February. Worries that Mr Son is paying over the odds are thought to be a big factor. Take WeWork: when Mr Son slashed his investment to $2bn, SoftBank’s shares leapt by 6%.
- vikramkr 7y ago
  I definitely think that it is a recipie for disaster. Son already lost the most money if any person ever. He's the most qualified person I can think of to do it again.