SoftBank Rolls Out Second Tech Megafund, With Apple Among Top Investors (wsj.com) 32
Japan's SoftBank Group unveiled a second technology megafund even bigger than its nearly $100 billion Vision Fund, answering skeptics who questioned whether anyone could raise so much in such a short time. From a report: Vision Fund 2, as the company is calling it, expects to gather some $108 billion in capital from more than a dozen investors that have signed memorandums of understanding, ranging from Apple, and Microsoft to Kazakhstan's sovereign-wealth fund, SoftBank said Friday. Some $38 billion of that capital will come from SoftBank itself, funded by proceeds from the first Vision Fund.
Other investors including Goldman Sachs Group are in active talks to invest, people familiar with the matter said Thursday, and the fund's size is likely to grow. [...] The planned inauguration of the second fund is a victory for SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, who started the first Vision Fund just two years ago amid widespread doubt about its viability.
Other investors including Goldman Sachs Group are in active talks to invest, people familiar with the matter said Thursday, and the fund's size is likely to grow. [...] The planned inauguration of the second fund is a victory for SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, who started the first Vision Fund just two years ago amid widespread doubt about its viability.
Where are they getting all this money from? (Score:1)
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You've obviously never even seen Masayoshi Son's pink power tie.
You can't comprehend how much power and influence he has.
SoftBank Group's stock price is discounted by 20% because the company is so big that it wouldn't be able to sell most of the companies it owns quickly, and if it did they'd have a huge tax bill.
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This is a fund dedicated to investing in tech. The days of tech companies starting in a garage on a small loan from mom and dad are effectively over. If you want to start and grow a tech company (and you aren't already independently wealthy) you need investors to bankroll you. So, a giant fund designed to do just that seems like it might be of interest to tech folk.
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They invest in new companies. Companies need to pay for salaries, buildings, etc. They need money to survive. When they are young, these companies have no income because they haven't produced anything yet. So this fund gives them money in exchange for a promise of more money in the future. Unlike what many people think, money doesn't grow from trees and magically appear.