Almost Everyone At SoftBank Thinks Going Private Is A Bad Idea

Inside SoftBank Group Corp., the idea of going private through a buyout has been discussed off and on for at least five years. Almost everyone except founder Masayoshi Son opposes it, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Son has been frustrated that SoftBank’s market capitalization continues to fall far short of the value of his holdings, particularly Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Preliminary work on a buyout got under way after a record drop in SoftBank shares in March, but the effort was later tabled as the stock price more than doubled with asset sales, buybacks and media reports about a possible deal, one person said. One theory at SoftBank is that whenever Son gets too serious about the idea, executives leak to the media, so the share price rises and a buyout becomes less compelling. Asked whether there were factions within SoftBank with different opinions about a buyout, one insider laughed and said there’s no group in favor. As a banker, Misra had helped Son pull off the acquisition of Vodafone Group Plc’s Japanese wireless operations in Asia’s largest-ever leveraged buyout and thought a SoftBank buyout was feasible, the person said. After SoftBank shares tumbled in March with the coronavirus pandemic, Son returned to the idea of a buyout.