Could Greensill Be a Bigger Nightmare for SoftBank than WeWork?
Masayoshi Son was proud of how his portfolio companies could work together. But synergy can also become contagion.
SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son in Tokyo, Japan.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images AsiaPacMasayoshi Son should feel happier these days. A successful listing of one of his unicorns, South Korean e-commerce Coupang Inc., will allow him to book as much as $25 billion in paper gains this quarter. A tech rally has also propelled his SoftBank Group Corp. stock back to its dot-com era high. And, with SoftBank writing down its $6.6 billion WeWork investments last year, he has left the worst behind. Or so it seemed.
Enter Greensill Capital, the now-defunct supply chain financier. In 2019, Softbank’s $100 billion Vision Fund invested about $1.5 billion into Greensill. That stake is now practically worthless.