Nasty execs shaped ‘macho’ culture at SoftBank Vision Fund: report
An influential investment fund tied to the spectacular downfall of office leasing company WeWork is run by executives who fostered a “workplace culture steeped in vintage Wall Street macho belligerence,” according to a new report.
Navneet Govil, chief financial officer of the $100 billion Softbank Vision Fund told a Mormon worker in 2017 to “go back to Utah to get more wives,” and brought an accountant to tears when he tore into her in front of others, said the Wednesday exposé in Bloomberg Businessweek.
Both employees reportedly jumped ship amid the incidents, which Govil denied through a spokesman. The story said Govil was also once heard saying that “Chinese people sound stupid,” which he also denied.
When the fund was considering an investment in Peloton in 2017, managing partner Jeff Housenbold suggested the fitness brand’s trendy workout videos were appealing to men for masturbation purposes, the report claimed.
SoftBank said Housenbold never made such a comment, and the Vision Fund ultimately did not invest in Peloton.
Businessweek’s lengthy report described a work environment “wrapped in a casing of general weirdness” and defined in part by deference to Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of the Vision Fund’s parent, SoftBank Group. The story cited accounts from current and former employees at SoftBank and the fund.
Son reportedly vacillates between charm and rage on the Vision Fund’s regular video conference calls. He excoriated a managing partner on a call last year for being “too much like a banker” and demanded he ramp up growth projections, according to Businessweek.
“If you don’t change, I’ll find a way to change your role!” Son reportedly said.
SoftBank was thrust into the spotlight this fall when WeWork, one of its prize investments, saw its valuation plunge from $47 billion to under $8 billion following a failed attempt to take the company public.
Son ended up bailing WeWork in a more than $10 billion takeover that gave co-founder Adam Neumann a $1.7 billion golden parachute, despite concerns that he was the cause of the company’s near collapse. The Vision Fund’s $4.4 billion commitment to WeWork in 2017 was among more than $21.2 billion it invested in 19 companies that year, according to Businessweek.
SoftBank did not immediately answer The Post’s questions about Businessweek’s report, but the general counsel for SoftBank Investment Advisors told Businessweek that the company has “zero tolerance for any form of harassment or discrimination.”
Meanwhile, Vision Fund boss Rajeev Misra touted the $9.9 billion the fund has returned to investors and its $11.4 billion in “cumulative investment gains” in an interview with the magazine.
“All great news for a fund that’s only 2 1⁄2 years old,” Misra, the CEO of SoftBank Investment Advisers, said.
“Businessweek’s portrayal of our culture is inaccurate and based on unsubstantiated claims by anonymous sources,” a spokeswoman for the Vision Fund said in a Friday statement. “It seems clear that the reporters were under pressure to sensationalize the story for the cover of their magazine.”