Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-12-23)

47

al Son

Bloomberg Businessweek December 23, 2019

E

verysixweeksorso,theSoftBankVision

Fund,thebiggest source of investment money

flowing to Silicon Valley, convenes a multi-

hour video conference call for 75 people on three

continents to catch up on its startups. Masayoshi Son,

the Japanese billionaire and founder of the fund’s par-

ent company, SoftBank Group Corp., usually dials in

from Tokyo. Masa, as Son is universally known, can

be charming and effusively complimentary on the

calls, according to three regular participants. Or he

can be enraged, berating presenters and demanding

a perpetually shifting yet unfailingly detailed set of

metrics. Or he can be both. No one ever quite knows

where he’ll land on the charm-rage axis.

On one call in 2018, the three participants say, a

Vision Fund managing partner named Kentaro Matsui

was presenting charts showing steady but slow prog-

ress from the Chinese shipping startup Full Truck

Alliance. Son flipped into rage mode, criticizing

Matsui for being too conservative and demanding that

he accelerate projections for revenue and valuation

growth. “You’re too much like a banker!” he snapped

atMatsui,who’sinfacta formerbanker.Othersonthe

callcringed.It seemedasif Sonwasdemandingthat

Matsuishould find a way to supercharge the startup’s

trajectory—a potentially dangerous push. “If you don’t

change, I’ll find a way to change your role!” Son said.

That’s the thing about Son: Whichever approach

he chooses, the point is always to go big or go home.

This attitude has been a differentiating feature of his

Vision Fund since it landed in Silicon Valley three

years ago. It identifies a startup to invest in, pushes

itsfounderstoexpandaggressively,andprofitsfrom

ballooningvaluations.Themethodseemedtobe

working—atleastuntilearlierthisyear,whenthe

fund’smostprominentinvestment,theoffice-sharing

startup WeWork, operatically self-destructed.

Another feature that sets the Vision Fund apart

is where the biggest chunk of its money comes

from: Saudi Arabia. Son raised $45 billion from

the Saudis despite international scrutiny of their

human-rights record. Crown Prince Mohammed bin

Salman backed the Vision Fund in 2016, not long

before he detained hundreds of the kingdom’s lead-

ing businessmen and government officials at the

Ritz-Carlton Riyadh. According to media reports,

detainees were tortured; one, a Saudi general, died

By Sarah McBride, Gillian Tan,

Giles Turner, Peter Elstrom,

Pavel Alpeyev, and Brad Stone