SoftBank Makes a Meltdown Move That’s All in the Timing
The stock is down a third. Masayoshi Son is setting himself up through a buyback to ride the rebound.
In chaos, there may be profit.
Photo: Bloomberg
The coronavirus outbreak has become a global pandemic, stock markets are crashing, credit is getting crunched and his stock price is down 30%. So of course, SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son would announce a share buyback.
This isn’t a crazy idea. It’s well-timed and savvy.
The Japanese conglomerate best known for its $99 billion Vision Fund plans to spend up to 500 billion yen ($4.8 billion) to purchase as much as 7% of its own shares. The move doesn’t come totally out of the blue. It’s one of the actions called for by activist investor Elliott Management Corp., which earlier this year took a stake of about 3% in the company, and then called on Son to improve corporate governance and appoint more independent directors.