As per reports, a top US partner at SoftBank Group Corp’s $100 billion technology fund, is stepping down. One of the main reasons behind this is because the company had posted declining returns on its investments, and had also struggled to raise capital for the next Vision Fund.
The outgoing managing partner, Michael Ronen, has expressed concerns about ‘issues’ at SoftBank in an interview with a national publication. Ronen had been on board since 2017, after he left Goldman Sachs. This called for a notable deal of $2.25 billion for General Morors Co’s Cruise self-driving unit.
It’s not a secret that the Vision Fund had reshaped the tech startup market with a flood of investment, however, most of its bets on unprofitable companies had gone south. However, SoftBank had bid up the valuation of WeWork parent firm We Company to $47 billion, before a failed attempt at an IPO. Another investment, Uber Technologies Inc., is trading below its IPO price and also faces pressure from the Government.
People say that the work culture inside the Vision Fund can be quite punishing. It’s reported that Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank had once ridiculed an employee by saying that he was too much like that of a banker.
Previously, Praveen Akkiraju, who had joined the Vision Fund as a managing partner in 2018 from a software company had stepped down in December.