The founder and boss of Saudi-backed tech giant SoftBank on Monday deplored the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi but fell short of severing ties with the kingdom.
Masayoshi Son withdrew from a Saudi investor conference last month after the Washington Post employee was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. On Monday, Son said: “It is true that a horrible incident happened, but we also have a responsibility that we must uphold for the future of the people in Saudi Arabia.”
He said SoftBank’s executives “sincerely hope [Saudi Arabia] will provide a responsible explanation”, but added: “We have accepted funds from the people of Saudi that will be critical to diversifying the economy so that it will not be dependent only on oil.”
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest investor in SoftBank’s Vision Fund after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ploughed $45 billion (£35 billion) into it.
Son’s remarks came after Softbank reported a 78% rise in operating profits to 706 billion yen (£4.8 billion) for the quarter to the end of September, exceeding analysts’ expectations. Its shares, however, have slumped 20% since the murder of Khashoggi.
The Japanese investment fund has spent billions on tech firms and start-ups, including its £24 billion swoop on British chip-designer Arm Holdings in 2016. It also backed Improbable, a British virtual reality firm, with $500 million last year and was close to investing in takeaway firm Deliveroo, but walked away because of its existing investment in rival Uber Eats.
Speaking in Tokyo, Son added: “Next year, I believe we will not only exceed these results, but may even deliver an operating profit on the level that Japan has never experienced before.”
The fund was boosted by India’s online hotel start-up OYO Rooms and graphics card-maker Nvidia.
