CEO/Chairman replaced.. President Miyakawa leads future management rights
Withdrawal from the front line of management to become’Founder Director’
Group strategy and investment company cooperation
[데일리포스트=김정은 기자] Chairman Jeong-eui Son (Masayoshi Son), the third generation of Korean-Japanese who led SoftBank, announced that he would step back from the front line of management.
The local media reported that it is expected to continue to take on the group’s core strategy and cooperation with investment companies across the group in the future. We are interested in whether this human change will lead to Softbank’s future business reorganization.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, SoftBank will promote Junichi Miyakawa (55), Vice President Junichi Miyakawa (55), to President and Chief Executive Officer in greeting on April 1st, and Gen Miyauchi will be inaugurated as Chairman of the Group. Son Jung-eui quits the chairmanship and takes on the position of’Founder Director’.
◆ Jeong-eui Son, who has led Softbank for 40 years
Chairman Son, who is regarded as a management leader with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, is the leader who raised Softbank as a global company and an icon representing the Japanese IT industry.
Born in Japan in 1957, right after the Korean War, Son is a third-generation Korean-Japanese raised by Korean parents. After graduating from undergraduate school, he founded PC Soft Company in 1981, and then led the company for 40 years, growing the company through bold mergers and acquisitions and equity investments.
Founded in 1996, Chairman Son, convinced of the value of Yahoo, a company less than a year ago, acquired a 35% stake for only 10 billion yen, growing it into Japan’s top portal’Yahoo Japan’ and entering the telecommunications business in 2001. As a result of the purchase of Vodafone’s Japanese subsidiary, SoftBank has become the third largest telecommunications company in Japan.
Since then, through various mergers, the business has been constantly expanding and growing. Recently, it is also called the’big hand’ of the stock market by investing a large amount of money in large IT companies and promising startups by establishing the Vision Fund.
However, a series of investment failures, such as the recent failure of the IPO of the US office sharing service company’WeWork’, massive investment losses in Uber after the corona crisis, and the withdrawal of the dog walking agency app’Wag Labs’. It has been through ups and downs.
Although it recorded the worst deficit last year, it was possible to maintain a certain level of credit rating and issue debt thanks to the sale of about $11.5 billion in Alibaba shares held by Softbank and holding cash. Softbank also sold some of its shares in T-Mobile to secure an additional $20 billion in cash assets and focused on breaking through the crisis.
◆ Is it a signal of a full-fledged generation change?
It is observed that this greeting is a signal of a full-scale management generation change of SoftBank, which was led by Chairman Son.
Softbank is expected to reorganize its system in March on the occasion of management integration between its affiliates Z Holdings (ZHD) and Line. The company explained that “this spring is the best timing for generational change.”
The current president and CEO of Gen Miyauchi, who takes office as the group’s chairman, is the right arm of Chairman Son Jeong-eui in Japan, thanks to SoftBank’s strong feelings. In 2015, he took over as President of Softbank. It will oversee the entire group, including the integration of Yahoo and Line.
In addition, Miyakawa, the new president, moved to SoftBank’s subsidiary Softbank BB in 2003 after starting an IT-related company. He has played a big role as a telecommunications expert since Softbank entered the mobile phone business in 2006 with the acquisition of Vodafone’s Japanese subsidiary in the UK. From 2019, he has been the president of an autonomous driving development company jointly funded by Toyota Motor Company.
In the telecommunications industry, competition over ‘5G’ and artificial intelligence (AI) is intensifying. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that it seems that Miyakawa, who is bright in high-tech as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), has determined that it is reasonable to command 5G mobile communications and autonomous vehicles.
In addition, NHK reported, “This decision is aimed at expanding the business of SoftBank, centering on cutting-edge technologies led by Miyakawa, at the same time as the executive generation change.”
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