Softbank to watch OYO more closely – Gerry Lopez, the 'man with many questions', joins the board

• SoftBank seems to be tightening the rope on OYO. It appointed its operating group head Gerry Lopez to OYO’s board.
• The ‘operating group’ under the SoftBank Vision Fund works with its portfolio companies and helps them go public.
• The appointment of Lopez’ in the board of OYO comes at an interesting time – when reports say that SoftBank and its chairman Masayoshi Son is increasing pressure on the hospitality unicorn to turn profitable.

Indian hospitality unicorn OYO has a new board member – Gerry Lopez. It is no run of the mill addition to its diverse board. There’s an interesting angle to this latest joinee. Lopez leads the ‘Operating Group’ at SoftBank.

Data intelligence firm paper.vc has reported that OYO has just filed documents which state Lopez is joining its board. In an interview, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal also confirmed the same.

SoftBank formed an ‘operating group’ under the SoftBank Vision Fund, which works with its portfolio companies and helps them achieve scale. The group was formed in August 2019, according to a report by the Financial Times. According to the report, this group will also help companies go public.

In an interview on SoftBank’s website, Lopez says that his role will involve working directly with portfolio companies where he will be asking a lot of questions.

When asked what founders should expect from him, Lopez said, “They should expect me to ask a lot of questions and listen carefully to their answers. They should expect a real, full-contact discussion where we respect each other enough to challenge assumptions and wrestle with ideas. Once we’ve done that, we can start making decisions and start acting on them. We can measure results, learn from the journey, reward the winners, and repeat the process. Lastly, they can expect my team and me to stand by them every time they need it. We’ll be the first ones to roll up our sleeves and get after it.”

The appointment of Lopez onto OYO’s board comes at an interesting time. Reports have been doing the rounds about SoftBank and its chairman Masayoshi Son’s putting pressure on the hospitality unicorn to turn profitable. The Japanese investment firm has a 45.69% control in OYO.

OYO is one of SoftBank’s hot investments and was growing at breakneck speed until it hit brakes recently. It has been under the scanner after hoteliers complained of non-payment of dues and other issues. Naysayers have been comparing OYO to yet another of its investor Softbank’s bets - WeWork.

But OYO has outrightly said that SoftBank continues to hold the same importance as any other board member.

“Our relationship with Softbank is that of a good shareholder, there has been no change in that because of what has happened in another company. It’s a board-governed company, no particular shareholder gives us any guidance. You put up an annual operating plan and work very hard to deliver on that,” said Aditya Ghosh, board member had recently said during a conference call with reporters.

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