CEO: SoftBank is a golden-egg-laying goose
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Finance social media was honking over this one: billionaire SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's latest shareholder slide deck, replete with geese and dozens of their golden eggs.
Why it matters: It's fun — plus maybe a sign of rising animal spirits during a bubbly moment — and it offers some protein-rich food for thought.
Zoom in: So, SoftBank is basically the goose, and the eggs are the companies it invests in. For more than a decade, Son has argued that the goose was undervalued. Here he is at a briefing back in 2014:
- "SoftBank is a goose with more golden eggs in its belly, even if it's too early to bring them to the market. ... SoftBank is currently valued less than the sum of its golden eggs."
Zoom out: It's an age-old question, really. Which came first: the goose or the gold?
- No seriously, the question is: Does a company that earns its way chiefly by picking winners and losers have value beyond its component parts? Berkshire Hathaway stans would say yes — but they'd do it in a more folksy way.
Wall Street doesn't always respond well to Son's offbeat vibe — which has included slides meditating on things such as death and the meaning of life.
- Back in 2020, SoftBank was still reeling from its disastrous bet on WeWork, and a slide featuring unicorns flying over the "valley of the coronavirus" was met with more than one gimlet eye.
Where it stands: These days SoftBank's market valuation is rising on its investments in AI darlings like OpenAI and Arm Holdings. Son is now talking about "Artificial Super Intelligence," targeting a quadrillion-yen valuation (that's currently more than $6 trillion) and has decided to put off retirement.
- Fintwits seemed to embrace the goofiness.
The bottom line: What's good for the goose — AI something something.
