Elliott Management guns for SoftBank
The activist investor wants the Japanese technology group to reform. Good luck
MOST BOSSES dread Elliott Management, an American activist hedge fund whose tactics the traumatised chairman of a German company once described as “psycho-terror”. After news leaked on February 6th that Elliott had taken a 3% stake, worth over $2.5bn, in SoftBank Group, a Japanese telecoms-and-tech conglomerate, its flamboyant founder, Son Masayoshi, seemed less perturbed. As he presented SoftBank’s results on February 12th, Mr Son professed to be “thankful that such a distinguished investor has joined us as a friend”. He has reason to sound welcoming. SoftBank’s languishing share price leapt by 7% on the news of Elliott’s stake.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Singer-Son time”
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