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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 hu
by 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 agoI 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.