SoftBank in the News: The Caldron of Son, Masayoshi Son, That Is
May 8, 2020
Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank, could feature in a new Star Wars movie. Tentative title: Trouble: The Caldron of Son. (A tip of the hat to The Wrath of Khan, of course.)
A short time ago, Banjo’s founder was allegedly involved in some non-high tech activities; for example, a possible drive by synagogue shooting and a KKK event. Why’s this important? SoftBank wrote a check for $100 million in 2016 to help this cyber intelligence firm become a better Palantir Technologies. Banjo’s secret sauce: Real time video alerts about “events” for law enforcement. Palantir does real time, but it is not exactly the TikTok of the investigative software world. Banjo was supposed to achieve that useful goal: Real time intelligence in real time.
That went south.
DarkCyber noted the real and trustworthy news story “WeWork Co-Founder Neumann Sues SoftBank over Failed Tender Offer.” WeWork, like Banjo, appears to have been a questionable investment. Now the very entrepreneur in whom Son had faith has turned around and bitten the hand that once fed him. How much? A significant portion of $9.6 billion to rescue the WeWork outfit.
What do these two investments have in common?
Answer: Due diligence which seemed to leave some issues in the fog. One issue: Damien Patten’s pre-Banjo life activities. Another issue: The interpersonal relationships and personality quirks of Adam Neumann.
These two events could be sufficient to make The Caldron of Son into a possible Quibi 10 part super successful video event. Who knows maybe the litigation will overlap with Quibi’s adventures with Eko?
DarkCyber perceives the due diligence evidenced in the Banjo and WeWork matters illustrate the weaknesses in the good enough approach to investment research.
One thing is clear: Spreadsheet fever may impair vision. That’s no fun(d).
Stephen E Arnold, May 7, 2020
For more coverage of “good enough,” navigate to this special page.
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