SoftBank Vision Fund head's pay doubled last year despite massive losses

[TOKYO] SoftBank Vision Fund's head, Rajeev Misra, saw his total pay for the past business year more than double to roughly US$15 million, even as the fund's underperformance pushed SoftBank to a record operating loss of some US$13 billion.

The 1.60 billion yen (S$21.1 million) amount includes basic pay and other compensation, a group filing showed.

The figure was second only to renumeration for SoftBank Group chief operating officer (COO) Marcelo Claure, which rose 17 per cent to 2.10 billion yen.

While offering big pay packets to foreign executives, compensation for chief executive officer Masayoshi Son was 209 million yen, a 9 per cent decline compared to a year earlier.

SoftBank's massive annual operating loss was largely due a US$18 billion shortfall at the Saudi-backed Vision Fund which has seen investments in startups like office sharing firm WeWork and ride-hailing app operator Uber Technologies flounder.

A key architect of the disastrous WeWork investment, vice chairman Ron Fisher who was the group's most highly paid executive in the previous business year, saw his renumeration slashed 80 per cent to 680 million yen. COO Mr Claure has become WeWork's executive chairman as SoftBank restructures the company.

Mr Son told an earnings presentation in May that tech unicorns had plunged into the "valley of the coronavirus" but a smaller number of the tech companies would make it.

REUTERS