On Monday, Tokyo- based Softbank announced Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s resignation, although it was not made known the reason why he left. The Japanese technology company has been struggling over its risky investments.
The company has been involved in losses after catastrophic gambles on Uber and WeWork. Japan’s Softbank has reported an $18 billion loss at its giant vision fund. The company was led by Masayoshi Son.
The company reportedly losses $4.6 billion from investments in office- Sharing firm WeWork and $5.2 billion from Uber technologies. Before Mr Ma’s resignation, he served on Softbank board for about 13 years. According to reports the Chinese billionaire also stepped down as chairman of Alibaba in September.
His resignation from the Softbank will be official from June 25. Mr Son said, “the coronavirus is an unprecedented crisis”. Mr Ma has been focused on philanthropy such as donating test kits and donating masks to help in the fighting of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Japanese Softbank announced a fresh three new board members. Softbank also announced its decision to buy its own shares of about 500 billion yen. Ma joined the Softbank board in 2007.
The Coronavirus pandemic has claimed a lot of lives, In the US alone the virus has claimed more than 90,000 lives and about 1.5 million infections.
Globally there have been about 310,000 deaths and 4.6 million infections. Currently, Softbank is loosening its ties with Alibaba. The global pandemic has only brought out underlying problems in the company. The company booked a $7.5 billion loss which it blamed on economic shock caused by the Covid-19.
