Matayoshi Son's Solar Smile

[Mike Oxlong]

SoftBank's Saudi ties in focus as CEO Son makes first appearance since journalist murder
Japan's SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son will face questions on Monday about his company's dependence on Saudi Arabia,
in his first public appearance since the murder of a journalist by Saudi security forces sparked global outrage.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son will face questions on Monday about his company's dependence on Saudi Arabia, in his first public appearance since the murder of a journalist by Saudi security forces sparked global outrage.

Presenting SoftBank's June-September earnings results, Son will also want to assuage concerns over the firm's domestic telecoms business ahead of its mammoth IPO - potentially the world's biggest - as the industry faces government pressure to cut prices.

While the results are expected to show solid profit and the Tokyo Stock Exchange is reportedly set to approve the telecoms listing next week, Son will be in the rare position of seeking to reassure investors about his strategy.

Saudi Arabia is the largest investor in SoftBank's US$93 billion Vision Fund, giving Son firepower to make big bets in late-stage startups such as shared office space provider WeWork Cos and hotel chain OYO hotels. But against the backdrop of the murder case, that dependence is now seen as a risk to SoftBank's plans to raise further funds...

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/bu ... r-10898528

Back in March, Matayoshi went all in with Saudi Barbaria: https://www.thenational.ae/business/sau ... t-1.716651

That didn't work out, but they were going to announce something or other new, until that little dustup with a dissident in Ankara.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arab ... 1538328820

[Grumpy Gramps]

My 5 yen:

I never understood, why people make such a fuss about the death of that man. Is one journalist's life worth more than the life of ~thousands of Yemenis?

Or is it that we (the west) could sell the Saudis weapons to kill the Yemenis, which is a fantastic deal, while they could kill that journalist all by themselves without paying the Trump/May/Macron/etc mafia one penny, which is, of course, worth at least a shitstorm?

Bigots, all of them!

[Russell]

My 5 yen:

I never understood, why people make such a fuss about the death of that man. Is one journalist's life worth more than the life of ~thousands of Yemenis?

Or is it that we (the west) could sell the Saudis weapons to kill the Yemenis, which is a fantastic deal, while they could kill that journalist all by themselves without paying the Trump/May/Macron/etc mafia one penny, which is, of course, worth at least a shitstorm?

Bigots, all of them!

You are all right in this.

However, the point is that it is unprecedented that a citizen of a country is murdered in cold blood, in his own embassy, in a foreign country. And the guy was a journalist, and one writing for an American news paper at that. This attack was just too brazen for the gentle minds of our politicians and press to ignore.

Of course, never mind that the guy used to be close to the Saudi regime in the past, when its human rights situation was not exactly stellar. I remember to have read somewhere that he was intimately connected to the Saudi security apparatus.

So, there you have it, hypocrisy. I must say, however, that I think that this prince MBS, who is now called Mister Bone Saw, cannot step down too soon.

[Mike Oxlong]

My own line in the sand as it were was 12 09 01. Others were concerned far earlier...

[wagyl]

"All those Arab petrodollars are washed through Switzerland and Canada..."

Interesting line in that movie, considering some of the posters so far.

[Mike Oxlong]

Yep. It's only very recently that Canada has stood up to their utter hypocrisy, coincidentally just before this latest act of barbary. A terrible shame it took so incredibly long.

The ringleader of this "progressive news agency" professes to be an expert in Muslim-Western relations (not the author of the linked article, the clown playing dress-up in a fedora and trench-coat).
SoftBank and the Saudis

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is trapped in the middle of the international scandal caused by the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered upon entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. His body has yet to be found. Evidence points to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—often referred to as MBS—as the most likely culprit for ordering the assassination.

Masayoshi Son’s problem is that MBS is also the single largest investor in his US$93 billion Vision Fund, which provides funding to expanding tech companies such as Uber. While many have denounced or cut ties with the Saudi government following this incident, Son has not...

http://shingetsunewsagency.com/2018/11/ ... he-saudis/