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SoftBank plans to "wait and see" on China's domestic techlash

10 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

China's regulatory shakeup is causing even one of its biggest believers —SoftBank — to take pause.

Driving the news: "We don't have any doubts about the potential of China but again, new rules are being implemented, so until it gets settled, we want to wait and see," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told analysts during the company's quarterly earnings presentation.

  • While Chinese investments make up 23% of SoftBank's overall Vision Fund investments so far, only 11% of those made in the last quarter are in China, Son pointed out.

Why it matters: Beijing's crackdown on a number of sectors and companies — including newly public ride-hailing giant Didi, one of the Vision Fund's big bets — has rattled investors and put some upcoming IPOs on ice.

The big picture: SoftBank's Vision Fund (which now comprises its first and second fund, along with its Latin American fund) posted ​​a ¥236 billion ($2.14 billion) profit last quarter.

  • While some of its portfolio companies went public and generated gains, others like Coupang and Auto1, saw their stock price fall.
  • Son also announced that given the approval of SoftBank's board, it will implement a program through which he and other Vision Fund execs will invest in the unit's second fund, putting up about 17% of the capital. A similar program was planned and later scrapped for the first fund.
  • As for taking outside capital, Son told analysts that one investor has expressed interest in putting money into SoftBank's second vision fund, but that for the time being, "we want to continue this way and we want to wait and see ... for now our own money is enough to keep the cycle going."

1 SoftBank thing: We didn't get the usual artful presentation slides this time, but Son still managed to deliver a dose of grandeur when he dubbed SoftBank a "vision capitalist" instead of simply a returns-driven investor like everyone else.

Go deeper: China's homegrown techlash

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.