SoftBank Group - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

1)   India born Rajeev Misra was appointed as the head of which fund founded by SoftBank Corp and the Japanese Group in Oct 2016?

a. SoftBank Development Vision Fund
b. SoftBank Development Fund
c. SoftBank Vision Fund
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: SoftBank Vision Fund

Explanation:
SoftBank Vision Fund will invest in tech companies worldwide. Misra, in the third week of October 2016, was appointed the SoftBank Vision Fund constituted by Japanese telecom and internet major SoftBank Corp.

  • The fund is managed in the UK by a subsidiary of the Saudi Binladin Group
  • It is one of the largest kind in the world
  • The fund will function from London
  • Misra was previously the Head of Strategic Finance at SoftBank Group Corp for nearly 2 years from November 3, 2014
  • Misra joined Softbank in November 2014
  • He spent 5 years at UBS in the post of Global head of Credit and Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities in EU, AU and Middle East
  • He has also served as the Head of Credit Derivatives and Chief of Global Credit Trading at Duetsche Bank AG
  • He is an alumni of DPS, Delhi and IIT-Delhi
  • He also pursued his graduation from UPenn
  • He is also an MBA from Sloan School of Management after which he joined Merrill Lynch


2)   SoftBank has appointed whom as the President and CEO on 22nd June 2016?

a. Nikesh Arora
b. Ken Miyaichi
c. Ken Miyauchi
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Ken Miyauchi

Explanation:
SoftBank Group said on 22nd June 2016 that Ken Miyauchi, head of the group’s Japanese telecommunications operations, would become president and chief operating officer to replace Nikesh Arora.

  • Mr. Arora, the former Google executive handpicked by the SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son as his successor, has abruptly quit as president
  • This was after it became clear that Mr. Son wanted to remain at the helm longer than first planned.


3)   Who will be stepping down from SoftBank Group Corp?

a. Masayoshi Son
b. Nikesh Arora
c. Mahesh Arora
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Nikesh Arora

Explanation:
Nikesh Arora considered the top contender to succeed SoftBank Group Corp, founder and CEO Masayoshi Son will be handing over his current post as President of the Japanese company

  • This became clear after Son clarified Arora won’t get the top job in the near future
  • Development comes 24 hours after Arora was given a clean chit in an internal investigation for alleged irregularities in SoftBank Indian investments Housing dot com and Oyo Rooms.
  • Arora is a former Google executive who made headlines as one of the top paid company officials in the world
  • Arora made valuable contributions to SoftBank such as the monetisation of a stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and sale of stake in gamemnaker Supercell.
  • In May SoftBank said it aimed to sell US $7.9 billion of its stake in Alibaba.
  • Arora joined SoftBank from Google where he was Chief Business Officer
  • SoftBank invested in growth stage companies in India such as Snapdeal, Ola and Oyo