<\/p>\n
Although no serious business impact is expected, the friendship between the two leaders is very well known and Son\u2019s stepping down will mark the end of an era.<\/p>\n
This comes after Jack Ma<\/a>, Alibaba\u2019s co-founder, recently departed from the board of SoftBank. Alibaba has been SoftBank\u2019s most successful investment, benefiting SoftBank immensely from its rising value. Son had invested $20 million in Alibaba in 2000 and has held his position on its board since 2005, helping the Chinese e-commerce company reach around $600 billion valuation. SoftBank also turned to Alibaba\u2019s stake this year to raise funds when it reported a humongous loss as companies in its portfolio like Uber<\/a>, WeWork<\/a> took a huge hit.<\/p>\n Son also told in his meeting on Thursday that he is in a process of offloading assets worth about $42 billion to cut debt in order to improve investors\u2019 sentiments and to bankroll stock buybacks, as per media reports. The company also announced a buyback worth 500 billion Yen in its meeting, making it to be the third one in row.<\/p>\n SoftBank had earlier in the week made a divestment worth $20 million in T-Mobile US<\/a> Inc. This transaction marks completion of 80% of Masayoshi\u2019s planned total from an asset sale programme, the 80% level of $35 billion also includes Alibaba\u2019s stake sale.<\/p>\n In the annual meeting, the Japanese conglomerate\u2019s CEO, Son, stated that the company\u2019s holdings are coming back to pre-Covid levels. He assured that digital transformation and artificial intelligence advancement will help his investments as well, both of which have seen a spurt in growth due to pandemic and subsequent lockdown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n