<p>SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son mounted a defence of his investing decisions on Thursday, saying the value of the Japanese conglomerate's holdings has recovered to pre-coronavirus outbreak levels.</p>.<p>"We have worried a lot of people who thought that SoftBank is finished or is 'SoftPunku'," Son told a shareholder meeting, using a play on the word "puncture" used colloquially in Japanese when something is broken.</p>.<p>The rise in corporate value was driven by the growth of SoftBank's stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and following the merger of its US wireless unit Sprint with T-Mobile US Inc.</p>.<p>Sprint, which Son loaded up with debt and made repeated attempts to merge with T-Mobile before successfully closing the deal in April, has delivered an internal rate of return of 25%, Son said.</p>.<p>SoftBank has undertaken a complex transaction to divest part of its T-Mobile stake to raise $20 billion. That brings the total from an asset sale programme, which includes monetisation of stakes in Alibaba and wireless carrier SoftBank Corp, to $35 billion or 80% of the planned total, Son said.</p>.<p>Those funds are being allocated to share buybacks and to increase SoftBank's financial leeway after the group was hit with a record annual loss in the year ended March as Son's tech investments faltered.</p>.<p>The record 2.5 trillion yen ($23 billion) share buyback programme is a means of increasing value for shareholders, who should temper expectations around dividends, Son said.</p>.<p>Son said he has reduced his compensation following the poor financial performance but defended the high pay for executives such as Rajeev Misra, head of SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund which recorded a 1.9 trillion yen operating loss.</p>.<p>Other Japanese corporates should overhaul compensation schemes to reward risk-taking, Son said.</p>.<p>"What are you scared of?" he said during a presentation.</p>.<p>The shareholder meeting saw the appointment of new board directors including entrepreneur Lip-Bu Tan, who was elected against the opposition of proxy adviser Glass Lewis.</p>.<p>Son also said he is stepping down from the board of Alibaba, following Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma's departure from SoftBank's board. </p>
<p>SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son mounted a defence of his investing decisions on Thursday, saying the value of the Japanese conglomerate's holdings has recovered to pre-coronavirus outbreak levels.</p>.<p>"We have worried a lot of people who thought that SoftBank is finished or is 'SoftPunku'," Son told a shareholder meeting, using a play on the word "puncture" used colloquially in Japanese when something is broken.</p>.<p>The rise in corporate value was driven by the growth of SoftBank's stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and following the merger of its US wireless unit Sprint with T-Mobile US Inc.</p>.<p>Sprint, which Son loaded up with debt and made repeated attempts to merge with T-Mobile before successfully closing the deal in April, has delivered an internal rate of return of 25%, Son said.</p>.<p>SoftBank has undertaken a complex transaction to divest part of its T-Mobile stake to raise $20 billion. That brings the total from an asset sale programme, which includes monetisation of stakes in Alibaba and wireless carrier SoftBank Corp, to $35 billion or 80% of the planned total, Son said.</p>.<p>Those funds are being allocated to share buybacks and to increase SoftBank's financial leeway after the group was hit with a record annual loss in the year ended March as Son's tech investments faltered.</p>.<p>The record 2.5 trillion yen ($23 billion) share buyback programme is a means of increasing value for shareholders, who should temper expectations around dividends, Son said.</p>.<p>Son said he has reduced his compensation following the poor financial performance but defended the high pay for executives such as Rajeev Misra, head of SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund which recorded a 1.9 trillion yen operating loss.</p>.<p>Other Japanese corporates should overhaul compensation schemes to reward risk-taking, Son said.</p>.<p>"What are you scared of?" he said during a presentation.</p>.<p>The shareholder meeting saw the appointment of new board directors including entrepreneur Lip-Bu Tan, who was elected against the opposition of proxy adviser Glass Lewis.</p>.<p>Son also said he is stepping down from the board of Alibaba, following Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma's departure from SoftBank's board. </p>