SoftBank: pay cuts do not offset investment flops

{"text":[[{"start":12.19,"text":"Founder Masayoshi Son is trying to turn round the fortunes of SoftBank following a historic loss for its Vision Fund unit. "},{"start":19.044,"text":"But moves to counteract falling profits and a dwindling share price are too little, too late. "},{"start":23.974,"text":"They include steep pay cuts for executives of the Japanese tech investment group. "}],[{"start":28.86,"text":"The surprisingly steep reductions follow a record investment loss of ¥3.5tn ($27.5bn) at the Vision Fund unit for the year to March. "},{"start":38.702,"text":"Oddly, Son’s pay was unchanged at Y100mn ($785,000). "},{"start":44.707,"text":"Executives who suffered pay package shrinkage included chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto. "},{"start":50.187,"text":"His remuneration dropped 40 per cent compared with the previous year "}],[{"start":54.599999999999994,"text":"SoftBank has a history of largesse. "},{"start":57.492,"text":"Simon Segars, the former chief executive of the company’s chip unit Arm, earned $9mn during the three months that he was a board director. "},{"start":65.309,"text":"Former chief operating officer Marcelo Claure, who left SoftBank earlier this year after months of frosty negotiations over pay, earned more than $14mn in the year before his departure. "},{"start":75.939,"text":"That put him on a par with former chief operating officer of Bank of America Thomas Montag. "}],[{"start":81.56,"text":"SoftBank blamed the record loss at its first Vision Fund in the year to March on the tech sell-off in the US and China. "},{"start":88.06400000000001,"text":"But some prominent companies in which SoftBank is the largest shareholder have performed far worse than the market. "},{"start":93.794,"text":"Shares in South Korean ecommerce platform Coupang have plunged 72 per cent since it listed. "},{"start":99.449,"text":"The stock of Didi, a Chinese ride-hailing group, has fallen 75 per cent in the past year. "}],[{"start":106.12,"text":"Such reversals call into question the strategy of SoftBank executives including Rajeev Misra, chief executive of SoftBank Investment Advisers, which oversees the firm’s Vision Funds. "}],[{"start":117.19,"text":"SoftBank shares have halved since their 2021 peak. "},{"start":120.994,"text":"They trade below book value at less than half the group’s stated net asset value of $150bn. "}],[{"start":127.5,"text":"Son has promised to play defence, slowing the pace of new investments and preserving cash. "},{"start":132.779,"text":"The question for investors should be whether it is worth holding shares in a business that is still paying executives highly to underperform the market. "}],[{"start":139.87,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftacademy.cn/album/72734-1653911512.mp3"}