49PREVIOUS SPREAD: PHOTO: TOMOHIRO OHSUMI/GETTY IMAGES. THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHEW SCOTT FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK. DATA: CRUNCHBASE, BLOOMBERG, SOFTBANK. *VALUATIONS ARE POST-MONEY, OR INCLUDING THE AMOUNT INVESTED IN EACH FUNDRAISING ROUND.
strategicadvantages.Theideais thatfestooningentre-
preneurswithhundredsofmillionsofdollarsandurging
themtospendatanexorbitantpacewillscareoffcom-
petitorsandallowtheVisionFundtomintbehemoths.
Noone“wantstopicka fightwitha crazyguy,”hetold
BloombergBusinessweeklastyear.
ManySoftBank-backedfoundershaveMasastories.
Theseoftenbeginwitha summonstothe26thfloorof
SoftBank’sgreen-tintedglassheadquartersinTokyoor
toSon’shomeinWoodside,Calif.,a 74-acrecompound
whosemassivemainresidencefeaturesa foyerwitha
largemarblestatueofa horseandchariot.Theentre-
preneurmightthensitacrossa tablefromSon,answer
a fewquestions,hearthattheirideais evenmoreprom-
isingthantheythought,and,bytheendoftheconver-
sation,beanointed“thenextJackMa.”
“Youfeelenabled,youfeeleuphoric,”saysa chiefexec-
utiveofficerinAsia.“You’vebeentoldnoa hundredtimes,
andthenhesayshebelievesinyou.Everyentrepreneur
dreamsofhavingthatkindofbacking.”
OneSiliconValleyCEOrecallsanearlypitchmeeting
withSonovervideochat.UnbeknownsttotheCEO,the
feedtoTokyofella minutebehindtheaudio,sohewas
narratingslidesSoftBank’stopbrassweren’tyetseeing.
“Theywereallsuperpoliteandnoddingtheirheads,”
saida personwithknowledgeofthemeeting,whowasn’t
authorizedtodiscussit.“Ididn’tfindoutuntilafterthat
noneofit madeanysense.”Thefundultimatelyinvested
inthelate-stagestartup.
VisionFundportfoliocompaniessometimesseem
tosufferfromanoverabundanceofvision.UntilDave
Grannan,co-founderandCEOofLightLabsInc.,a cam-
erastartupinRedwoodCity,Calif.,metwithSoninTokyo
andthenagaininWoodsideinearly2018,hehadn’tcon-
sidereddevelopinghisimagingtechnologyintoa new
wayforautonomousvehiclestonavigate.“Thatidea
camedirectlyfromMasa,”hesaidinaninterviewlast
year.TheconcepthelpedLightget$121millioninfunding
inJuly2018,withSoftBankleadingtheway.Aswascus-
tomarywithmanyofitsinvestments,thecapitalwould
comeintranches,withsubsequentfundsdependent
onmeetingsalesandgrowthtargets.Lightpivotedto
theautonomouscarmarket,asSonhadadvised.About
halfofLight’semployeeswerelaidoffinJuly,whenthe
companyeliminateditsoriginalsmartphone-camera
technologytohelpstemlosses.
AfterVisionFund invested$375millioninZume
PizzaInc.,whosemissiontouserobotstoautomate
pizzamakinghadshadesofSiliconValleyfrivolity,CEO
AlexGardenexpandedhismissiontoincluderethink-
ingtheentiretyofU.S.foodproduction.Employees
were unnerved.“Arewethe nextTheranos?”went
oneanonymously submitted question at an all-handsmeeting over the summer.
Afterward, Zume banned
anonymous questions at
the meetings. (A spokesman
says the company has always
“strived for transparency”
and has a different way for
employees to submit anon-
ymous questions.) Three
months later, Zume has yet
to revolutionize food pro-
duction or to be profitable.T
heVisionFund’snearly 500 employeesoperate
fromtraditionalofficetowers around the world,
but most of its executives work from a townhouse
in London that was once home to the Ladies Empire
Club, a defunct women’s organization. Son hasn’t vis-
ited the headquarters in two years, according to several
people close to the firm.
To lead the fund’s unicorn hunt, Son brought in Rajeev
Misra, a veteran Wall Streeter who once ran the Deutsche
Bank subprime team immortalized in The Big Short. At
the office, Misra favors dark designer sport coats with
pocket squares and bare feet or furry Gucci slippers, and
he often vapes at business meetings. He filled his invest-
ing team with fellow bankers from Deutsche Bank AG and
GoldmanSachsGroupInc.Whileit wasplacingitsstartup
bets,SoftBankGroupalsoexecutedcomplexinvestments
inpubliccompanies, including taking a roughly $3.7 billion
stake in Charter Communications Inc. in early 2018 and
offloading it a year later after the share price rose by more
than a third. A giant, convoluted bet on U.S. chip designer
Nvidia Corp. brought in a $2.8 billion gain.
Duringallthatadroitdealmaking,thefund’swork-
placeculturewassteepedinvintageWallStreetmacho
belligerence. In early 2017 the Vision Fund’s Zambia-born
chief financial officer, Navneet Govil, told a Mormon
employee to “go back to Utah to get more wives.” The
employee left the company. Via a spokesman, Govil denies
making such a statement. Around that time, Govil also
berated a young accountant in front of a group, bring-
ing her to tears. She later quit. And at a work lunch a few
months later with several colleagues, Govil remarked
that “Chinese people sound stupid,” according to two
people who heard the comment. Via a spokesman, Govil
denies making such a statement or berating the employee;
SoftBank says it has no record of these events.
In Silicon Valley, much of the whispering about
SoftBank’s peculiarity and spotty investment record
concerns managing partner Jeff Housenbold, who col-
lects cars, including a blue Ferrari, and claims to own
a 20,000-bottle wine cellar, although he doesn’t drinkMisra