SoftBank Vision Fund head's pay doubled last year despite massive losses

[May 29, 2020]  By Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Vision Fund's head, Rajeev Misra, saw his total pay for the past business year more than double to 1.6 billion yen ($15 million), even as the fund's underperformance pushed SoftBank to a record $13 billion operating loss.

The figure was second only to renumeration for SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure, which rose 17% to 2.1 billion yen.

While offering big pay packets to foreign executives, compensation for CEO Masayoshi Son was 209 million yen, a 9% decline compared to a year earlier, a SoftBank filing showed.

SoftBank's massive annual operating loss was largely due to an $18 billion shortfall at the $100 billion Vision Fund, which has seen investments in startups like office sharing firm WeWork and ride-hailing app operator Uber Technologies Inc <UBER.N> flounder.

A key architect of the disastrous WeWork investment, vice chairman Ron Fisher who was the group's most highly paid executive in the previous business year, saw his renumeration slashed 80% to 680 million yen. COO Claure has become WeWork's executive chairman as SoftBank restructures the startup.

The heavily indebted tech conglomerate's growing dependence on Japan's big three banks was underscored by the filing - with borrowing from top lender Mizuho Financial Group <8411.T> more than doubling to 1.39 trillion yen in the year ended March.

Together with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc <8306.T> and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc <8316.T>, borrowing climbed by more than 1 trillion yen to 2.45 trillion yen.

SoftBank's deteriorating performance has forced Son into a programme of asset sales, including a 1.25 trillion yen monetization of Alibaba <BABA.N> shares, to fund buybacks and shore up the group's balance sheet.

Earlier this month Son told investors in May that tech unicorns have plunged into the "valley of the coronavirus".

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Edwina Gibbs & Simon Cameron-Moore)

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