Top 10 scary quotes from Masayoshi Son during the SoftBank earnings call
May 18, 2020, 16:13 IST
- The SoftBank Group reported a record $8.9 billion net loss for the financial year ended in March 2020.
- A lot of what Son said about the future of SoftBank as well as the global economy could only be described as scary.
- Here are the top 10 quotes from the earnings call.
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One of the world’s most hallowed investors Masayoshi Son’s company, the SoftBank Group reported a record $8.9 billion net loss for the financial year ended in March 2020. The biggest dent came from the COVID-19 crash that took away $6 billion off its investment in Alibaba and nearly $1.5 billion in the case of Uber. Despite his best attempt to put up a brave front, a lot of what Son said about the future of SoftBank as well as the global economy could only be described as scary.
These are Son’s top 10 scariest quotes from the earnings call:
- “Out of 88 companies, 15 could go bankrupt. That’s my assumption at this moment. 15 could fly away and still become successful. Remaining about 60 unicorns can do so and so.”
- “But going forward, nobody knows what will happen, especially when it comes to a potential second wave that could be bigger than the first one (coronavirus). We cannot promise that there will not be additional valuation loss.”
- “As for new investments, I’m thinking SoftBank Vision Fund 2, using our own money, we have been continuously making investments. Because the performance of SVF1 is not that great, we decided to not do the marketing for SVF2 to partners for a while.”
- “It took 25 years for the economy to recover after the great depression. This time again I believe our economy is going to suffer for quite a long time in a negative way. The future is very uncertain.”
- “We will take a very cautious approach in managing our investments. So there is a chance of further downside risk, that is something that we always keep in mind while for safe driving. So that is why SoftBank Group contributes its own money and borrowings.”
- “We also try to have 4.4 trillion yen of cash or cash equivalents in hand. So that’s why we are working on selling or monetising our assets. We will keep a close watch on how things go.”
- “The investment we have made may lose some of its value. But from a cash flow perspective, in principle, we will not provide cash to those fragile companies for rescue.”
- “If you are so pessimistic, then why don’t you consider the value of the Vision Fund as zero. Then there is no downside.”
- “It was foolish of me to invest in WeWork, I was wrong”
- “The novel coronavirus has been spreading around the world and causing huge crisis to the humankind.”
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 fails to raise new funds — Masayoshi Son says the company will now use its own money for investments