Ulrike Schaede on SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son
How Sprint's new boss lost $70 billion of his own cash (and still stayed rich)
10/16/2012
Cyrus Farivar ,
Ars Technica
Yesterday, Japanese telecom giant Softbank announced it was buying a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel. While Sprint investors seem to be excited about the deal—since it was confirmed last week, Sprint’s stock has risen 14 percent—SoftBank shares have moved the other way. Since Softbank confirmed the merger talks, its stock price fell 17 percent in a single day, the largest single drop since the company was listed on Japanese markets in 1994.
But Japanese business watchers say that the smart money is on SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, and his “maverick” managerial style. After all, he did become Japan’s second-richest person (now worth $7.2 billion).
“He’s a very calculating strategist with a knack to see what the next big thing is,” said Ulrike Schaede, a professor of Japanese business at the University of California, San Diego. “Every time he does a big bet like this, like with Vodafone, the stock price of SoftBank plummets and everyone says he’s gone crazy and six months later people say, ‘Wow, he’s got a plan.’”
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Professor Schaede is an authority on Japanese business organization, strategy, and management. In addition to analyzing the recent shift away from diversification to focused, lean organizations among Japan's leading companies, Schaede's research also includes the newly emerging takeover market in Japan, venture capital and startups, as well as changing employment practices.
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