Softbank Group Going Private?
SoftBank has revived go-private talks just as investors demand answers about CEO Masayoshi Son running a risky multi-billion-dollar options scheme using cash it promised to protect.
Softbank Group (9984 JP) is back in go-private mode, according to reports out this morning from Financial Times and Bloomberg.
We've heard this before, except now Softbank has what's left of $40 billion in cash on hand from recent fire sales of assets plus potentially another $40 billion in cash and stock if its pending sale of Arm Holdings (ARM LN) to NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) goes through in coming months.
Just add another $20-40 billion or so from cash raised from further asset sales plus perhaps issuing unsecured notes/converts and CEO Masayoshi Son could get the buyout done, theoretically, and win his coveted freedom from most all accountability.
This apparently is Son’s answer to worried investors who have demanded answers to why Softbank failed to disclose its multi-billion-options scheme revealed last week which cost Softbank $10-15 billion in evaporated market cap upon the news.
Also, why he deliberately withheld and misrepresented material information about Softbank’s drastic change in strategy and risk and what it actually was doing with $40 billion in cash versus honoring pledges to buy back stock and, more importantly, pay off debt to repair Softbank’s damaged balance sheet and financial condition because of Son’s spectacularly expensive investment failures like WeWork (The We Company (WeWork) (WE US)).
See my warnings about this in my report last night Softbank Wrapping up Arm Sale While Wrestling With Alarmed Investors and last week Softbank's Son "Feeling The Force" With Options Funded With Cash It Had Pledged To Protect.
Because a guy who compares himself to Jesus Christ doesn’t want to answer to anybody.
Look out Softbank bondholders left behind if Son does take the company private as all current and new problems intensify along with its notorious lack/omission of material disclosures plus even less concern about severely understated credit risk.
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