I never understood the SoftBank investment strategy.
It looks like they always invest in something big and popular, prepared to pay a premium price - often much more than it makes sense, i.e. WeWork.
And while their top 2-3 investments get all the PR as expected, they are in a ton of different sectors and countries - https://visionfund.com/portfolio.
I think that says it all
Wework on the other hand has a bunch of fairly cheap leases and even better for them, they have become such big tenants for many landlords they can dictate pricing downwards if necessary.
Besides, their brand is much stronger than what Uber’s was when SoftBank invested.
So I’m not convinced wework is a worse investment than Uber which has absolutely no moats.
Edit: Also, the strongest bull case for WeWork is basically that real estate is one of the largest industries in the planet (behind maybe energy). And how many global real estate brands exist? Almost none.
Now, if we got some inflation, those leases would start to look pretty cheap. Then the debt turns into equity, viola!
See lowering interest rates to 0 is fun.
While Saudis might have invested into building yet another Mosque or Tomb.
In India Taj Mahal reported costed Mugols lack chunk of GDP.
> Per Islamic tradition, his funeral was held the same day, a public ceremony at the Grand Mosque of Riyadh before burial in an unmarked grave at the Al Oud cemetery. [0]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abdullah_of_Saudi...
-
> Jan. 23, 2015, 2:49 AM PST / Updated Jan. 23, 2015, 10:22 AM PST
> RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — There were no golden carriages.
> Friday's funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah was a relatively simple affair in line with the austere form of Islam practiced by one of the world's wealthiest ruling families.
> The body of the former custodian of Islam's two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, was bathed according to Islamic ritual. The late ruler, whose net worth has been estimated at around $20 billion, was then wrapped in two pieces of plain white cloth — the standard shroud for all Muslims.
> According to tradition, nothing out of the ordinary was to be done to King Abdullah's body. It was taken to the Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Grand Mosque in the capital Riyadh for the funeral prayers at around 3:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. ET). In line with codes that dictate that a tribal chieftain be accessible to everyone in his community, the ceremony was open to the public. Women were able to attend, sitting in the women's section of the mosque.
> After the funeral, Abdullah's shrouded body was carried on a board and driven across an empty desert to Al Oud cemetery, which is home to raised graves. A black truck bearing Abdullah's body came to a stop, and Saudi royals gathered at his gravesite. His successor, the new King Salman, was dressed in a simple black gown.
> A group of men lowered the pallet containing Abdullah's body to the ground, and gently tipped it toward the unmarked grave. The body was set inside the burial plot, and mourners threw handfuls of yellow-colored soil onto it. That dirt was then covered with a bed of small stones as the mourners look down. They slowly turned away, led by King Salman.
> While public displays of grief are frowned on under the strict form of Wahhabi Islam practiced in the kingdom, tens of thousands are expected to pay their condolences during the three-day period of mourning. Most of the visiting will be held at the king's palace and all the senior royals will be there to receive Salman's subjects and visiting heads of state and dignitaries, including Vice President Joe Biden.
> Visitors will be greeted by a line of royals arranged according to age instead of rank. [1]
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/saudi-arabia-succession/sa...
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor...
As someone else mentioned they are later stage investors, and do look for potentially transformative things. In order to get in they offer large investments and ridiculous valuations, which appeal to entrepeneur’s egos. The dark side of accepting money at high valuations is The Next Round.
If you aren’t profitable by the next time you need money, you better have shown enough growth to not only match the SoftBank investment but to go beyond it to a reasonable investor. Otherwise you don’t have a growth story and investors turn their noses up (or offer shitty down-round terms).
So in a way SoftBank can (and has) torpedo its own investments by its entry strategy and human greed. In the case of my company they eventually sold, but only after a complete pivot and focus on a different market, and ultimately at a lower price.
If you are worth $100M then your goal is to grow that to $1B. If you are worth $1B then your goal is now to lose it.
At some point capital has diminishing returns.
But he invests differently - often buying entire, functioning companies.
But after the IPO they are on their own. So if the price drops or they hold a huge position it can be a problem.
>The SoftBank Group has grown by anticipating paradigm shifts in technology and building businesses to take advantage of the next era.
They kind of look where the market is shifting eg ride sharing, co-working and try to invest in the leader eg. Uber or WeWork. I guess the theory is as the world shifts that way they will make profits. Time will tell with Uber and We. They did well with AliBaba and Yahoo in the past.