Here’s a Masayoshi Son Shopping List for 2020
We offer a few investment ideas worth, well, whatever we feel like to SoftBank and the Vision Fund.
Want to come in on my next fund?
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
It was an Uber year for Masayoshi Son and his SoftBank Vision Fund. One in which WeWorked out just how much attention he could Grab by saying Ola to lots of cash while actually being quite Slack on stuff that matters, like corporate governance and profits. Critics Wagged their fingers at the improbable bets, even when he tried to make lemonade from the year’s biggest failure.
The numbers are so bad, you have to laugh. Uber: down 37% since IPO. WeWork: valuation cut by 80%. Wag: sold back to founders at a loss. But Son will bounce back. He has to, because he has another Vision Fund to raise and run. Instead of being cowed into humility, it’s more likely he’ll double down and make even more fantastical bets with other people’s money. To help him out, I did a multivariate analysis1 based on past SoftBank deals to come up with a list of investments he ought to consider.